A Dark Power
by Familiar47
Summary: When a new threat emerges, destroyng entire planets, Zim and the gang must fight a war against the mysterious Lord Shay and his minions while fighting their own people in a race to learn the secrets of the Dark Power. Sequel to Kill Zim.
1. Chapter 1

A Dark Power

If anybody noticed AntonShan put up a copy of this...kinda my fault. We were using the same computer, he was logged in, and I was in a rush so...yeah...and if any cynics think I'm lying he'll back me up on this.

**In the sequel to Kill Zim, we re-introduce you to Tallest Zim and his Empress Tak along with their old gang as a new threat menaces the galaxy. We bring you the Nexus Bounty Hunters (owned by AntonShan), the Resisty (Jhonen Vasquez), the Swollen Eye Balls (Vasquez), and anybody who is anybody or anybody you would want in this!**

**And for this, I want-nay, I need characters! OCs, Factions, etc! I want you all to have an effect on how this story plays out! It could end with a happy ending, or it could result in a tragic and tear filled closer.**

**Watch Kurt and Carlos' seemingly invincible bodies and awesome powers quail under a new force that even they aren't equipped to deal with.**

**But first...allow me to introduce you to the first chapter of...**_**A Dark Power.**_

Xxx

In space, stars were not as easy to see as one might think. They were just immensely far that it was impossible to comprehend how something you can see from your bed room window was shining in the night sky. At times they might be barely as noticeable as a period or comma on this page, other times they'd be smaller than that, other times you could snap a photo of them and show a constellation to your friends.

The problem is...space is darkness, an eternal void of empty space, the leftover of the Big Bang. It was so dark, one might not have noticed the floating corpse of the alien that drifted, tumbling head over heels at thousands of miles an hour, not stopped by any friction. The alien was covered in white fur that had a light blue tinge to it, and four unseeing eyes stared beyond a cracked helmet's visor. A space suit covered the very much dead alien, but it offered no more protection to its owner.

It certainly didn't stop the ship that ploughed through, splattering the body of the Frigian across the gun metal gray hull. There were similar blotches on the pristine metal armour of the mighty battle cruiser that glided without sound over a planet.

Frigia was easy to describe by its name alone: it was very cold and ice covered. But the Frigians sustained a population of billions until they were uplifted in terms of technology by the Vortians before their government fell to the Irken Empire. Currently though, the planet was covered in water, almost nothing but water, which had flooded most of what little land there was. It also covered the tallest Frigian tower, and crushed the bodies of billions until only clothing and belongings were all that was left of over ninety eight percent of the Frigian population.

Another one percent was located in orbit, among a field of wreckage that had once been the Frigian Defence Force. Over several thousand ships and hundreds of thousands of fighters were reduced to nothing. The Frigians had been nothing if not cautious with their planet's safety, so a large majority of their people were given benefits if they took an annual military training session...resulting in a massive flow of fresh hands.

The rest were unfortunate souls trying to escape their dying world only to be blown from the stars. And the 0.005 percent still left alive in the entire system were on mountain tops or in water craft waiting, praying for rescue. The rest of the Frigians were located on other worlds, unaware they were now a species that was at risk of being endangered.

But the occupants of the _Dark Gift _were more than aware of this fact: they were celebrating it. On board, aliens clad in black and gray uniforms manned their stations. One of them, an alien that looked like a human except for the fact that instead of skin, he was covered by a brown exoskeleton and had four beady black eyes and a pair of pincers stood up. His looks made him look rather hideous to anybody outside of his race, but he had little care for such vain matters. He looked to the alien who sat in the Captain's chair: An Irken with red eyes. "Our last salvo eliminated the final Orbital Cannon on the Peak of Mt. Frost, Admiral." Ever t, d, hard c, or k that came out sounded like a click as they passed his pincers. And when he said Admiral it came out as 'Add-mee-roll'

"Excellent, stand down to yellow alert and prepare to move us away from Frigia Prime." The Irken instructed his crew. "And inform Lord Shay that we have accomplished our objective."

"I've already called him sir!" Another Irken said brightly as he stood up. "He know's everything now!"

The bridge went silent.

Admiral Sket, one of the Irken Empire's former great Admirals slowly turned his chair, his hands crushing the arm rests. "_What?_" He hissed. _"You called him without telling me?"_

The Irken realized the error he had made and swallowed. "Oh vrik na-"

CRACK!

"AYE-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!" The communications officer screamed, clutching the fork of his legs as he fell over and curled up on the floor. "Mother, help me..."

Sket lowered the leg-which had a boot tipped with a cloven shaped metal end he had used to 'discipline' the officer back to the floor. "Don't let it happen again!" He promptly spun his chair around. "My good mood has been shattered by your colleague! Congratulations you worms! No get us out of here before one of you end up on the tip of my boot next!" He held up the same leg he had kicked with moments ago, one eye twitching in that insane/evil genius way. "_Obey the boot!_"

Complying, the crew rushed to complete their tasks while the now 'disarmed' communications officer cried for his Cold Unfeeling Robot Arm.

"Two years..." Sket returned to his usual composed self as he leaned back in his chair. "Two...very long years...two years since my beautiful empire was taken from me, since _he,_" He hissed the word 'he'. "Took it all and ruined it." He stood up, his monologue continuing. "But now, my vengeance shall strike him from existence and return the empire to its rightful place!"

"...With Lord Shay leading it, right?" The Ant-Man asked.

"Of course!" Sket said defensively. "With me as Tallest and Shay ruling over me! I'm not dumb enough to challenge him on that subject! Unlike you he's proven to be the only non-irken worthy of ruling!"

He sat back down. "Now, return us to Dark Haven, and we shall make our report in person."

"By your word, Admiral." The Ant-Man nodded.

The _Dark Gift_ accelerated out of system. It was almost five sixths the size of the long lost _Massive_, leaving it as the largest class of battle cruiser in the Galaxy. It was essentially an obelisk that spread out in an X shape at the back, and four long claw segments went along the corners of the obelisk. And then near the middle of the ship, on its top near the center it began to rise towards the back until it shaped into a dome containing the bridge. In the event of a battle the dome would lower itself into the obelisk hull. Lining the sides and bottom were powerful energy cannons that had torn through the Frigian Fleet.

Nearby, the husks of smaller obelisk ships were being towed away into hyper space so nobody could collect data off of them. The Frigians had fought valiantly, but eventually they fell like so many others would.

The _Dark Gift_ jumped into hyper space, winking out of existence.

Xxx

**[Invader Zim Theme Song starts playing]**

_**The camera flashes away from Frigia and shows in big red letters: **_**A Familiar47 Production**

_**The camera zooms out on the galaxy, and then rushes in to shower Irk with the Armada in orbit over it. Red letters move alongside several ships**_**: Starring: The Carlos, Kurt.**

_**The camera zooms out again and then goes to Earth, which has letters moving around it: **_**Filmed by The Swollen Eye Ball Network.**

_**The camera moves to Earth's moon, which has words carved into it by a laser beam from the Swollen Eye Ball Ship: **_**From the makers of 'Kill Zim'.**

_**Mars shoots past Earth and slams into Mercury, as they part they reveal more letters: **_**In memory of Tallest Red...**_**the planets crash into one another again and leave a single word: **_**NOT!**

_**The view changes to show the whole galaxy, and the music fades as a shape starts to enter the screen from the bottom, slowly taking up more and more space until a massive ship shaped like five **_**Dark Gift's **_**put together moves towards the galaxy. It flashes out of existence when only the lights of its engines are visible, and leaves behind the title as a mysterious music note plays:**_

**Invader Zim: A Dark Power**

_**The camera zooms in until it hits the galactic core, and the screen fades to black.**_

Xxx

**Several hours later...**

"Total number of survivors accounts to four million, two thousand seventy six." Admiral-Prince Grimrair stated, his image displayed for his brother, Admiral-Prince Envon to see.

"Have we discovered the cause of this disaster?" Envon inquired.

"Not yet, but many civilians and surviving soldiers claim that a fleet overwhelmed the Frigian Defence Fleet after disabling communications." Grimrair explained. "We have found evidence of orbital bombardments on the uh...ocean floor. Luckily the cities remained reasonably intact around them so we could identify the impact craters. They melted the ice caps at the north and southern poles first, and then worked their way down to the equator. Whatever it did, it melted the ice caps in under three hours and cause global flooding within three and a half. The majority of the population was caught unaware. The total invasion time was ten hours, if you count the three and a half used to flood the planet and the two hours of scouting the salvaging the enemy did in the debris field."

"Eight billion reduced to around eighty million within less than half a day." Envon whispered. "By the gods not even the Irken Armada was that fast during Impending Doom II."

"Have you contacted our father yet?" Grimrair asked.

"I intend to after this call," Envon said. "I'm rerouting the 12th fleet to Ziniga III, the Zinians have volunteered the use of that planet to serve as a refugee camp. Whoever did this may try to finish the job, eight thousand war ships should dissuade them."

"We can only hope," Grimrair replied. "I'll keep you informed brother, 3rd fleet: out."

The image of the scythe wielding Irken vanished...and no sooner than it did, Envon received an unknown message. He paused, and tapped the controls on his chair. The main screen of the Levask class capital ship the _Setepia's _command deck displayed a black screen with a single red line through it. A voice spoke ,and with each time it did the line would show triangles moving up, depending on the pitch and volume of the word.

"_Greetings Admiral Envon,_" The voice was distorted. _"We are the Servants of Shay, Lord of Shadows."_

"Lord of Shadows? And I thought I'd heard all of the cheesy titles by now." Envon muttered. "Why have you contacted me? This is a private Irken Miltiary channel."

"_Deliver this message to your father," _The voice demanded. _"Warn him that his corrupted shadow of the Irken Empire shall be the next to collapse. The Frigians murdered one of our order, for that they have paid the price. Now we shall take Irk and then one by one every planet unless the pitiful beings of this Galaxy can prove themselves worthy of survival."_

"You sound very confident that the Irken Armada won't be as much of a challenge as the Frigian Militia's defence fleet." Envon challenged. "You've sealed your death warrant by telling me that you are responsible. Xenocide or attempted Xenocide is a war crime I'm all too glad to punish nowadays." He stood up. "Either tell me you're here to surrender or get these delusions out of your head."

"_You are arrogant," _The speaker sounded annoyed. _"Primitive, crude, and brash like all who do not serve Lord Shay."_

"And you sound deranged, foolish, and a little too high and mighty for my tastes," Envon snapped.

"_You shall spread this message to the galaxy," _The Speaker stated. "_We will burn your_ _planets, extinguish your suns, and silence your screams in the void of space. But those who join shall be embraced. Those who wish to fight will have the opportunity to express their defiance, as pitiful as it may be. Any who feel worthy enough to fight need only step forward when the call is sent._"

"Is that an offer of war?" Envon's antennae tilted forward to listen.

"_You may fight your war on all fronts if you wish," _The Speaker said. "_But any battles between us will mean nothing when the Dark Power is fed. It is only a matter of who feeds it._"

"Dark...Power?"

"_Champions shall combat one another in single combat, and the loser shall be offered to the Dark Power in mind, body, and soul, to serve as one of its Dark Reapers."_

"...you're really nuts." Envon growled. "Send your armies and we will crush them! The entire galaxy has been united by the past mistakes of the Irken Empire and you would never win if you fought for ten million years!"

"_Foolish Irken, your promises and threats are as futile as your resistance," _The Voice said. _"We are the Servants of Shay, Lord of Shadows and prophet of the Dark Power. Your fate has been sealed, and your galaxy's life's blood shall sustain our people. Now...the war begins."_

The screen switched off, leaving and intimidated and confused crew and an annoyed Envon.

"Well, it seems we have new guests in our galaxy," Envon frowned. "Redirect the Fleet and set course for Irk, send a transmission ahead requesting a meeting of all Coalition leaders. Code Omega Red." He sat down as his orders were followed. "This might be something I can't brush off as an empty threat."

Thousands of Irken ships vanished one by one, returning to Irk within half an hour.

Xxx

**The prologue is DONE!**

**Read and Review!**

**And should I get a Beta-Reader?**

**Now, here is what I need. In this, there will be a whole lot of opportunities for you to have a character involved with this story; you can even create your own faction for it. They can have their own goals, their own morals, their own everything! They can fight or help fight against this 'Lord of Shadows'. Please, I encourage you to have fun with any ideas you have! It would make the story more interesting-meaning instead of me making up a whole army of good/bad guys you all get that chance to do so yourselves.**

**So go to town people! I promise that you will not be disappointed by future chapters!**


	2. Chapter 2

A Dark Power

_Characters that don't belong to me belong to Zim'smostloyalservant, ngrey651, or Jhonen Vasquez._

_Invader Zim also belongs to Jhonen Vasquez._

Xxx

**Episode One: Rockin' like IDIOTs**

_**In the middle of space...**_

"NICK!" The communications officer in question cringed as the voice of his friend and superior, Chancellor Darithil caused the interior of the Omni Hunter to shake.

Climbing to his feet, the green eyed Irken sighed and adjusted the cloth that he used to cover the lower half of his face. He left the comm. room, curious as to just what had caused Darth to call on him yet again. His answer came quick, and he wasn't surprised.

"BACK! STAY AWAY!" Darth shouted before Nick opened the doors to Darth's Guest Quarters.

"AH! HELP ME!" A green eyed Irken, smaller than Nick flew right at the officer. Expertly reacting, Nick lurched to his right and rolled aside as Loe, the ship's Technical Officer, CMO, and formerly the full time comm. officer-which Nick now served as for the duration of Darth's stay flew out of the room and slammed face first into the wall across from the door.

Loe slid down, mumbling something about his Cold Unfeeling Robot Arm. Nick glanced up and saw...a giant rat attacking Darth, who was trying to attack its mind with his telepathic powers. His hand outstretched and his wide, diamond white, unseeing eyes reflecting the massive monster before him.

"Darth! What is that thing?" Nick shouted, already reaching for one of his guns.

"It's Lok's Cold Unfeelng Robot Arm's stupid Demonic Rat Mutant pet!" Darth said through clenched teeth. "Get it AWAY from me! It's thoughts are too jumbled for me to-WAGH!" The Rat bit Darth, it's mouth enclosing his waist and it shook him back and forth as he screamed in fear-not so much pain as apparently the rat had no teeth left.

Nick jumped into action, leaping onto the rat's back. He chose to forgo the laser seeing as Lok would be rather upset with him, even if Nick's assignment was to protect Darth among minor duties. If only Darth let Envon assign those guards to him this wouldn't have happened-

THWAP!

Nick was struck on the jaw by the rat's tail and sent flying into the ceiling. He then face planted on the floor. "Ow..." He rubbed his head as he slowly got up. "That really sucked."

Nick and Darth were caught up in this madness for one reason: The Irken Empire often made contracts with Lok-On-Kontracts, a mercenary business of three Irkens, only two of whom were of legal age and only one was an actual fighter. Loe was the second of this trio and by far the weakest, having no experience in fighting whatsoever outside of weapons training. The other two LOK members were not currently present.

LOK had taken a contract to act as body guards for Chancellor Darth, who had been appointed by Tallest Zim a mere week after he took the throne. Despite having hated Zim for a long LONG time, Darth had come to respect the new Tallest-technically the old Tallest, Splorchamheimer, Miyuki's mate. The irony had not been lost to Darth.

They were to ferry Darth between meetings between several large businesses that focused on production of medical equipment and the harvesting of materials needed for rescue efforts made on planets that still suffered from what the Irken Armada had done to it. Now the 64th fleet, the legions of over five million soldiers that had conquered dozens of planets on their own was seen providing relief efforts to trillions of stranded or starving aliens. If they were to continue ferrying supplies and badly needed medicine, these corporations needed to be appeased, which was where Darth came in as the negotiator.

Nick had been sent along as an added security detail and to help make sure Darth received any important calls.

The green eyed communications officer pulled out one of his guns and examined it. Adjusting it to a low level output so as not to kill the rat, he took careful aim. Taking up the pose of an expert marksman, with his legs partially spread and the gun level and grasped in both hands, Nick fired twice, hitting the Rat near the base of its neck. IT shrieked and released Darth, sending him flying...only for a shape to shoot out of a nearby vent and catch the blinded Irken Chancellor.

Setting the much taller Irken on his feet, the purple eyed individual shook off his brown over coat, revealing an arsenal of weapons consisting of knives stored in air tight sheathes, pistols secured to his belt and thighs, and a rather menacing machete. His antennae tilted to the left as he inserted the fingers of his right hand through the gaps between his left fingers, which he bent back until he heard a satisfying, light 'pop'. Repeating this with his other hand, he then pushed his left knuckles against his right palm and vice versa until he had similar results.

Smirking lightly, Irken Lok, the head of Lok-On-Kontracts Incorporated, formerly the Irken Defective Infiltraton Or Termination Squad rushed forward. The rat spun, it's eyes bloodshot and its fangs dripping with venomous saliva. It swiped at Lok, who expertly executed a Lazy Vault, placing one hand on the rat's outstretched arm and swinging his legs up over it while his free hand remained behind him to create balance. He rolled as he landed, going under the Rat's tail. He came up, a device on his arm unfolding.

It was a chrome like material and reflected all images around it. When it was done, revealing a blue light from its power source within it, a sort of cross bow with a blue energy 'bow string' was formed. The string was a Kinesis Stream that was far more powerful than a regular bow string, but it was used for focusing the small but powerful energy being focused and coated in a magnetic field.

Raising his right arm, he steadied his aim with his left and grasped the handle attached to the device that fit in his palm. He pressed the little red button on the tip of the handle, and the device began to glow as it charged up a single shot.

As the rat roared, rearing up on its hind legs, Lok released a single shot from his Stun-Caster. It struck the Demon Rat in its exposed belly and knocked it onto its back. It growled, rolling over and almost crushing Nick, who scrambled back.

"Bad Mr Bonkers!" Lok declared, pointing at Bonkers the Demon Rat. "What did I say about eating people?"

Bonkers snarled in defiance and lunged. Nick raised his gun and shoved Lok aside, firing three low output shots into Bonkers that made him retreat.

"I don't get what's wrong with him!" Nick shouted, keeping his pistol locked onto Bonkers. "He never acted like this during our detour!"

"And he never tried to eat Darth before," Lok added. "And no offense but I don't blame him for trying, Darth can be high and mighty whenever he isn't in a good mood with you."

"I didn't _do_ anything to him you moron!" Darth snapped, joining them alongside Loe, who nursed a bump on his head. "He just charged in and tried to eat me when I was preparing a report to send to Irk!"

"Larry!" Lok looked up. "Activate Internal Security! Level 2 threat, non-lethal restraint!"

Larry, the Omni-Hunter's onboard Artificial Intelligence yawned as his avatar manifested next to them. He took the form of an Irken similar to Darth, with white eyes and oddly shaped antennae that were a little too round for a male Irken. He wore a plain white shirt and matching pants, mimicking an Invader uniform. His eyes narrowed, the false dark shadows under his eyes becoming more visible. **"So this is why you woke me up."**

"You don't sleep at all," Loe pointed out.

"**You racist bastard! If Lok wouldn't delete me I'd teleport you into space!"** Larry snarled at Loe, who recoiled from the sudden ferocity that Larry showed. **"Alright, non-lethal security field!"**

Bonkers lunged...and slammed into a pink energy barrier that manifested itself between him and his targets. He howled and tried to break out, but the energy field was meant to hold something a lot more powerful than an SUV sized Rat Demon.

Sighing in relief, the four Irken combatants relaxed.

"Lok, I don't mind the fact that Mr Bonkers is a demon," Darth sighed. "but if he tries to kill me again, I will not show him mercy."

"Let's actually find out what's wrong with him first, genius." Loe stated as he walked forward. "Larry, please run a medical scan of Mr Bonkers."

"**Running..." **Larry 'leaned' against the wall on one elbow while the fingers of his other hand fingers drummed against his stomach. **"Increased heart beat, blood pressure sky rocketing...he is pissed for some reason."**

"Well this won't do," Lok shook his head. "Darth, could you take a look inside his mind? This field will take up too much power and slow us down by seven days. I'd move him to the brig where power output is more stable but I don't want to run the risk."

"Well seeing as you did save my life, I suppose that I can afford to offer my services." Darth strolled forward, straightening his white robe. He reached out with his mind, searching for the demonic, corrupted mind of Mr Bonkers the Rat Demon.

...and screamed as he fell back, writhing on the ground.

"_Darth!_" Nick cried, rushing forward and sliding the last foot on his knees. "Lok! Help him! Cut the connection!"

"How?" Lok shouted, panicking.

"Knock Bonkers out!" Nick held Darth down. "Hurry!"

Lok nodded. "Larry! Neural shock! Now!"

Bonkers began to twitch and sputter as a device came out of the ceiling and shot it with a non lethal amount of voltage that rendered the demon unconscious. Darth relaxed, gasping for breath and groaning in pain as nick helped him to sit up.

"Are you alright?" Nick asked, concerned for his friend's well being.

"That...it was..."Darth groaned. "Oh it was worse than when I looked into Kay's mind, or Hellion's mind put together."

"Did you see anything?" Lok asked.

"Yes..." Darth whispered. "A planet...Bonkers was thinking of a planet...Zanga Mare Prime."

"That's barely an hour's flight off of our current flight path if I'm right." Loe informed the group.

"...no." Darth glared down at Lok. "Oh no Lok, as your taller I am ordering you-"

"Too late!" Lok snapped. "I'm free lance and I'm taking command of my own ship right now! Whatever is doing this to my Cold Unfeeling Robot Arm's Demon Rat shall pay!"

He then struck a majestic pose. "Larry! Set course for Zanga Mare Prime!"

Larry sighed, and then said in that annoyed teenager voice. **"Whatever."**

The Omni Hunter accelerated to full Hyper Speed.

"Lok! We have a mission to do!" Darth objected. "And if I'm late for the conference on Vort the Tallest will have my-"

"What's the matter Colonel Salmonders? Chicken?" Lok taunted.

"...Just get us there and let's get this detour over with so that damn rat will leave me alone."

Xxx

_**Meanwhile, halfway across the galaxy...**_

Shen Baron swallowed as two pairs of blue eyes glared at him. "Uh...I swear it was all intentional and was not part of a booze fuelled orgy."

Next to him stood a tall, slim, beautiful Irken. She had blue eyes and antennae that hang down. She wore a blue invader style dress that went to her knees, but had slits up the sides revealing black tights and a laser pistol hanging just within view on her right thigh. What was most noticeable about her was what she was carrying though. An infant, barely a few days old, with bright emerald like eyes that matched Shen's, but were more bug like, like the Irken's. It had a set of thin horns that curled like most female Irkens' did, and it had gray skin that was brighter than Shen's.

It was a Vortken, a Vortian-Irken hybrid, and holding it was the girl's mother, Skullene Baron.

The affair had begun during the hit reality show 'Kill Zim', starting when Shen had comforted and warmed Skullene after she was wounded by both Hellion and rain fall. Then it evolved when he saved her from Hellion in an underground bunker, jokingly referring to her as Princess after it was discovered that Zim was in fact the reincarnation of her biological father, Tallest Splorchamheimer. Then they kissed, and confirmed their relationship to the galaxy by making out in a field filled with the bodies of dead Flash-Cloned soldiers referred to as Copy Troops.

And then when Zim took the throne, she and Shen went to a secluded area of the Galaxy to consummate their status as Mates. Some members of the primitive society of Granga Mor VII could have sworn that they heard the two and their uh...actions all the way from where it had been done on Granga Mor II.

When Skullene became pregnant after over a year of effort, Shen rushed her back to civilization and took her to Vort. There, she waited with him, enjoying the freed planet-and enduring any slurs some less grateful Vortians had for her people until finally it was time. When she gave birth, Paneece had been there, along with Zim and Tak and even Hellion, but Envon and Grimrair had been away with their fleets at the time.

This was the first time they had seen Skullene since she returned to Vort eight months ago. And to say they were pissed at Shen for knocking up Skullene was an understatement.

"Baron, I warned you to use safety with my little sister!" Grim growled.

"...Grim," Shen sighed. "I can totally understand your rage and I do sympathize, and I do hope that we can work towards being brother in laws in the future-"

Skullene suddenly hushed him, handed Shellene to them...and then snarled at her brothers, looking so fierce that they took a step back. "If you two _dare_ to touch a single horn on my man without my permission for any reason I swear that you will both suffer an existence without _either_ of your antennae intact or with any hope of getting them replaced!"

Grim gulped, feeling the stump of where he once had an antennae before Shen's stupid cousin went and butchered it with one of Grim's own scythes. One thing that he and Envon had learned about fertile Irken women-with mates and children was that they were insanely protective and jealous for several days, to the point of being homicidal. Skullene had beaten up two nurses for flirting with Shen-who had learned not to try and approach a woman until Skullene was through this phase.

Skullene was also protective of Shellene, not allowing anybody but Shen to hold her when she herself didn't. She wouldn't even leave the Vortken alone for fear of sudden infant death syndrome, always holding her close and staying up day by day to tend to the Vortken. Being an Irken, she did not necessarily need sleep, but she-like the many now reprogrammed Irkens were capable of it and enjoyed it.

"Am I _clear_ with you, _brothers?_" Skullene asked.

They swallowed.

"Yep-yep Skully! Totally clear!" Envon said quickly.

"Crystal!" Grim added.

"Good." Skullene paused. "Now hold Shellene," She took Shellene from Shen and for the first time let an uncle hold her baby. "Shen, come here _right now._" She pulled Shen close and crushed her lips against his.

Standing there mildly disturbed and frightened, the two brothers looked at the infant in Grim's arms. Shellene looked up at Grim and held up one hand. He let her grasp the tip of one finger ,and couldn't help but smile as he looked at his niece...

His half Vortian niece.

Xxx

_**On Earth...**_

_Boom!_

Another mushroom cloud shot into the sky.

"WHOO!" A dark haired young man shouted, shooting his arms up into the air, both thumbs up. "Yes! Another success! I am SO awesome!"

He looked at the creature next to him. It was an extremely deformed...bird...with cracked and bleeding scales, a misshapen beak, four blood shot eyes, and tentacles coming out of its chest. "Load another ne Mr Twinkie!"

"Caw!" Translation: I don't get paid enough for this.

"You're my familiar, you don't get paid."

"Caw!" Hard ass.

The bird used its tentacles to load a sphere into a cannon next to them and fired it out into the desert. It exploded...and made an explosion ten times as big as the first.

"YAY!" Carlos clapped.

Suddenly _Never Gonna Give You Up_ played from his coat pocket. Carlos blinked and pulled out a Black Berry-he's Canadian, fools!

"Carlos' Pyromaniac Services. You pick 'em, we burn 'em."

"_Carlos, it's Sophie!_"

"Sophie? I thought you were with Dib...and why do I have a Black Berry?"

"_I snuck t into your pocket before you left to blow up the Sahara Desert."_

"Really? Dang, that's a Jason Bourne moment there."

"_Focus you idiot!"_

"Right ,sorry."

"_We need you back here, something's seriously wrong!"_

"What isn't wrong when your boy friend is raising the dead?"

"_That was only once!"_

"Once is enough to make me never wanna see my great grandfather Carlos III again." He sighed. "He's still being his own Carlos with the angels."

"_Carlos, get back here, now."_

"Alright, alright, I'm on my way."

"_We'll pick you up at the air port."_

"No need, I got my own way."

Xxx

On the other side of the world...

"Carlos just let us pick you up, the last thing we need is-"

VHOOM!

"Never fear! Carlos is here!" Carlos, who appeared in a pillar of fire declared. Mr Twinkie sat on his shoulder, wings spread...dramatically.

"...there's always reason to fear you Carlos," Sophie sighed. "And get those ashes off my rug!"

"Caw!" Nice to see you Sophie.

Sophie giggled. "Hi Twinkie!"

Carlos and Sophie stood in the middle of Dib's living room. Gaz was sitting on the couch with her Game Slave 5. And coming down the stairs...

"Twinkie? Did I just hear Twinkie?" A dark haired government made mutant rushed down and snatched the bird off of Carlos' shoulders , hugging the Demon Bird to death. "TWINKIE! Aw I missed yoooouuuuuu!oneoneone-onethousandonehundredeleven!"

"C-caw!" You're crushing me to death woman!

Carlos, ignoring the distress his Familiar was in, looked at Sophie. "So where's ComraE big Head?"

"Yo!" Carlos looked up and saw Dib...stuck to the ceiling.

"...Comrade Big Head, what are you doing up there?"

"I was testing out my powers to see if I could mix them with ectoplasm based applications." Db explained. "To go through walls and stuff. I guess it worked too well for a second because now my ass is in the ceiling."

"So what do you need me for?"

"Well..." Dib coughed awkwardly. "I need you to go and find the one guy who can help me."

"Chuck Norris?" Carlos asked, eyes wide.

"No-"

"Vin Diesel?"

"No!"

"The talented guy from the Fed-Ex commercial?"

"NO! You have to track down Skoodge and get him to help me!" Dib said. "He has technology with atomic separation capabilities that I need in order to get my ass out of the ceiling in one piece"

"Problem there," Sophie added. "Skoodge was caught by government agents. Turns out somebody in the US government actually believe the Kill Zim broadcasts were reality and tracked skoodge down when he came back here to lay low for a bit."

"So...I need to stick it to the man," Carlos' eyes narrowed and he popped on a set of sun glasses. "Kurt!"

In a flash of light, a red haired you with matching sun glasses appeared next to Carlos. He dusted off his clothes and raised an eye brow at Carlos.

"We have to save Skoodge so he can get our comrade's ass out of his ceiling!" Carlos explained. "I need your help to storm a government base."

Kurt nodded.

"Awesome, and now for the first step." Carlos declared.

"Getting out of here?" Sophie asked.

"No! Well yeah but..." Carlos shook his head. "Dramatic walk with the musical notes from the first seventy seven seconds of Final Countdown."

"...whaaaa?" Sophie blinked.

"It's a guy thing," Carlos said. "Now let's go Kurt."

He kicked down the front door to the house.

"It was unlocked!" Dib whined.

Carlos and Kurt ignored him and walked slowly out towards the sidewalk. As they did so, the first notes of Final Countdown began to play. Inside, three confused super human children looked around.

Finally, Carlos and Kurt reached the sidewalk...and hailed a taxi and zoomed off.

"...uh...girls?"

"Yeah honey?" Sophie looked up at her boy friend.

"Today was Extra Meaty Breakfast day...and I gotta go super bad now." Dib whimpered.

Xxx

"Doo-dee-doo-dee-doo-I am so happy! Yes oh so happy!" A small, red skinned alien sang as he walked along a path through a forest. "Oh yes I am so ha-a-a-a-happy!"

He sighed. "Aw yeah, I'm so happy nothing could ruin my-"

CRASH!

He was promptly crushed by the Omni Hunter.

Lok opened a hatch and hopped out, armed to the teeth and dressed to kill in his usual attire, minus his trench coat. He looked around, holding a pistol. "Alright, it's all clear!"

"I ain't going out there with you man!" Loe shook his head.

"I don't need you to go with me, I need Nick and Darth to go with me." Lok rolled his eyes. "They can actually fight."

"I'm not going either until you put your coat back on." Nick shook his head.

"Why?" Lok looked at the black sleeveless shirt he wore under the coat. "Sickened by the scars on my arms?"

"No! Don't you know what happens to the guy who takes off his bad ass looking long coat?" Nick said. "Think back to all the movies man! Guy takes off his cloak to fight, he dies. Guy takes off his trench coat so he can reach his gun, he dies. I am not going with the guy who is gonna die."

"Okay, fine, gimmee my coat." Lok said...before his coat hit him in the face. "...I hate you all so much right now." He put the trench coat on and fastened it up. "Kay, keep her in neutral!"

"Aye-Aye!" A pink eyed smeet in the cockpit snapped a salute, a big grin on her face.

As Nick, Darth, and Lok walked away from the Omni-Hunter, Darth commented. "Am I the only one wondering why you have a seven year old flying your ship?"

"She may be seven, but she's whooped centuries old pilots at every turn." Lok replied. "And she's _crazy._"

"...I believe you." Darth nodded.

"So what are we looking for?" Nick asked, curious.

"Well on the way down we detected a signal coming from this area." Lok said. "Somebody wanted us to land here and find them, so let's not disappoint them."

The three came out of the trees and onto a cliff overlooking...what looked like a massive open pit mine. There were abandoned vehicles and carts filled up with material left unattended.

"Heh, wonder who would leave all this lying around." Nick said.

"What? What is it?" Darth asked.

"A big mine, open pit style and several foot ball fields wide." Lok explained. "It's safe to go down and the signal's coming from the bottom...so we're heading down."

"Darth, hold onto me, we don't want you falling." Nick said firmly, taking Darth's hand and leading the blind Irken down as Lok slid down the first slope of small stones. Lok stopped on a path lining the edge of the open pit mine used by vehicles for transporting ore to the surface and out of the pit.

Lok paused, as did his companions when they caught up to him.

"Lok, what's-" Nick froze in mid sentence as he felt...he didn't even know how to describe it. It was like somebody just flipped a switch in your brain and made you stop breathing. He shivered as something washed over the group, leaving them chilled and gasping for breath when they regained control of their bodies.

"What...what was that?" Nick gasped.

"It came...from the pit," Darth muttered. "Something is down there...by the gods it's...I can't say anything else but this:...it's pure evil."

"What? Wait how can something be _pure_ evil?" Lok asked.

"Because it's entirely evil right down to its core!" Darth explained.

"Hold on now! If something is pure then it's good, if something is evil then it's evil! That's contradictory!" Lok said.

"Not if it is entirely evil!" Nick pointed out. "If something is entirely of one thing, unmixed, one of the definitions of pure, and it is entirely evil then it is indeed _pure_ evil, not of pure _spirit_ like you implied Lok."

"I don't buy that man," Lok shook his head. "Plus, how can something be worse than the Irken Empire before Zim called the shots? You're sure it isn't just plain classic evil?"

"Nah, this is pure evil, it's got that uh...pure taste to it." Darth shook his head.

As the three debated whether what was down there could be constituted as pure evil or just plain evil, the pit mine began to shake.

They noticed, and struggled to maintain their balance.

"Okay you were right!" Lok shouted. "It's pure ev-ILLLLL-L-L-L-L-L!" He shrieked as the path collapsed, sending the three of them tumbling down the side of the pit.

"Ow!"

"Ouch!"

"Ooh!"

"Oh!"

"Ouch!"

"Ooh!"

"Oof!"

"Splodey!"

"Ouch!"

"Yowza!"

"Ow!"

"Ow! My portable smeetery!" Lok groaned as he hit the bottom...hitting the fork of his legs off of a rock.

"Ow my stomach!" Nick groaned as he got up, having landed on a rock that jutted out just a bit.

Darth landed on the green eyed Irken, making him hit the rock again. Nick groaned. "Ow...my other stomach."

"My brain." Darth groaned...and then a rock that had been shook loose from their fall hit him on the head. "Ow my other brain!"

As they got up, Nick noticed his sniper rifle had fallen from his PAK. He picked it up by the barrel ,but as he brought it up he accidently hit Lok in the same place that had been hit on the way down. Lok stiffened, a muffled scream coming from his sealed lips. He then exhaled and squeaked. "_My backup smeetery._" He collapsed.

"Well this is just lovely," Darth mumbled as he got up. "All our extra organs are hit and we're thoroughly screwed."

"Well at least we're alive." Nick pointed up.

"Not for long if that thing down here notices us." Darth replied. "Find us a hiding place, quick!"

Lok, getting to his feet, limped over to a massive Ore Transport and climbed into the back container. The three Irkens regrouped there and climbed to the top. Nick and Lok peeked over and looked around the mine.

"...I don't see anything." Lok whispered.

"It's close." Darth replied. "It's so close..."

"How right you are, Irkens!"

The three looked to the source of the voice and saw three figures standing on top of one of the structures built as temporary housing in the mine. They were all clad in dark colours.

The leader was an Irken with gray eyes of all colours, with a single bright red dot in the middle of each of them. Her antennae were curled like any other Irken's, but they drooped down and reached her waist. She wore dark gray armour components over a black suit that showed off her figure nicely, and her eye lashes were pronounced. She had a few weapons attached to her armour.

The two next to her were familiar...one was an Irken who was extremely large and wore a black and red suit of armour and carried a massive staff tipped with plasma cutters on either end. What was most familiar was the scar on his face and the hat he wore...

"Sizz-Lor!" Lok and Nick shouted at once.

The other member of the trio was human, surprisingly, and had dark hair. He had an insane grin on his face, and his teeth were REALLY big. His armour was not as bulky as the others, and he had no visible weapons on him.

"Roberto," Nick said, remembering him from the Kill Zim broad casts. "The ugly werewolf."

"More like the not-so-ugly werewolf now." Lok pointed out. "With all that greasy hair gone he doesn't look hideous."

"Aye, mi amici!" Roberto boomed. "I, Roberto, have returned for my revenge!"

"...but the three of us never did anything to you." Nick pointed out.

"...huh?" Roberto blinked. "Wait...so nobody from Kill Zim is here?"

"Nope," Darth shook his head.

"No Zim?"

"Ruling Irk."

"Tak?"

"Ruling Irk _with_ Zim."

"Big-Head?"

"Hell if I know." Lok shrugged.

"The Carlos?"

"Nope." Nick added a 'pop' with the 'p' in 'nope'.

"Figlio di una cagna!" Roberto in Italian. "Well then the revenge can wait a bit."

"Who are you!" Nick pointed at the gray eyed female Irken.

She laughed. "My name is Viliae, and I represent Lord Shay, prophet of the Dark Power!"

"Dark...power?" Lok didn't sound intimidated by this title. "...it's official, we got another cult on our hands."

"Don't doubt the power of Lord Shay!" Viliae shouted. "The Frigians doubted us, and in taking our vengeance on them we earned the favour of the Dark Power! It has given us great strength!"

"Wait...the Frigians!" Darth's eyes widened.

"what's wrong?" Nick asked.

"Before we arrived here...I intercepted a wide frequency message..." Darth whispered. "The Frigian home world was invaded...and all but a small part of the population was cruelly murdered."

"And you did this?" Lok shouted. "You and your 'Lord shay'?"

"The first step in our expansion!" Viliae sneered. "Bow before Lord Shay, or perish where you stand!"

"I got a third idea," Lok growled. "Bite me!"

Viliae growled. "Impudent short one!" She leaped off of the structure and landed on a small hover jeep...smashing it underfoot.

Lok gulped, his anger gone. "I pray she's not an evil ex of mine."

"What do we do?" Darth asked. "I'm blind, this place has so much evil in it I can't detect anybody, and if that smash was what I think it is then we are in a really bad spot."

"We do what we always do!" Lok declared. "Rock it like we're IDIOTs!"

"But you're not an IDIOT anymore Lok! Zim disbanded that department!" Nick said.

"You can take the Irken out of IDIOT." Lok smirked. "But you can't take the IDIOT out of an Irken!"

"...he's got that right." Darth whispered to Nick.

Lok pulled out his pistol. "Come on! Let's take them! They and their pals have to answer for Frigia Prime!"

Nick sighed as Lok hopped over the wall of the transport container. "Stay here Darth." He took out one of his guns. "We'll be back." He then vaulted over the wall and joined Lok with a battle cry.

Darth sighed. "This just got interesting."

Xxx

End of chapter

Summary of what is happening...for anybody who likes to skip reading.

While transporting Darth and Nick across the galaxy, Lok's pet rat demon, Mr Bonkers goes into a wild fit of rage. The team follows the source of this event to a nearby planet where Lok, Nick and Darth find a mine containing 'pure evil'.

Meanwhile, Grim and Envon meet their niece, Shellene Baron for the first time.

And Carlos and Kurt go to save Skoodge so that they can save Dib from his ceiling before he has to take a Number Two.

Will Lok, Nick, and Darth escape? Will Grim and Envon heed Skullene's warning? Will Kurt and Carlos save Skoodge before Dib has to let his bladder go? What of the rest you might ask? Fnd out next time on _A Dark Power._


	3. Chapter 3

A Dark Power

More characters from Zim'smostloyalservant are joining in!

Also introducing characters from zombiefear101!

I don't own Invader Zim.

Xxx

**Chapter Two: The First Battle**

DOWDOW! Lowering his pistol, Lok rolled forwards, ending up next to Nick behind what had been the scoop of a large mining vehicle until Sizz-Lor demolished it. The two Irkens stood and fired over their makeshift cover at once, systematically changing their targets to keep their enemies away.

"So is this how IDIOTs fight?" Nick shouted. "It feels the same!"

"This isn't any ordinary fight Nick!" Lok knelt and began to assemble something with components from the pockets of his coat.

_Snikt-click! _He assembled a double barrel body. "When we IDIOTs fight,"

_Chnk-chk!_ A trigger and handle were added to the back of the device. "We like to leave an impression."

He took a pair of canisters out of his pockets and slid one down each barrel. Examining the device, he stood up. "And this is one of my personal favourites on how to do just that!"

He raised the gun he had constructed, and squeezed the trigger.

_THOOM!_

The left barrel let out a small amount of smoke as it launched its contents across the distance between Lok and his target: Sizz-Lor. It slammed into Sizz-Lor's armour and sent the massive Irken spinning head over heels until he crashed into the housing structures. Lok smirked.

"You got him!" Nick said. "Now get down!" He tugged a grinning Lok by his trench coat back to the ground before Viliae fired a device attached to her left wrist. The device had been a rectangular block before she had activated it, making it unfold into some sort of gun that fired small but very powerful shots of energy that almost blew apart the vehicle behind them, just making it flip over onto its side with a hole through it.

"I'M COMING FOR YOU LAK!" Sizz-Lor burst out of the wreckage of the structure he had crushed. "_No use running!_"

Lok's smile vanished. "What did he just call me?"

"I think he called you-" Nick started before Lok stood up and fired his launcher again; hitting Sizz-Lor in the chest again and making him slam into the wall of the pit mine.

Loading two fresh shells into the launcher, Lok moved from cover and fired it upwards at Roberto just as the werewolf lunged at him from the top of a low cliff. It hit the werewolf in the face and sent him flying. The second shell blew away Villiae's cover, and she leaped through the cloud of dust as Lok reloaded.

"Look out!" Nick raised the rifle in his hands and fired, but the shot bounced off of Villiae's armour, making her stumble back a bit.

"You shot me in the _boob!_" Villiae growled.

"Sorry!" Nick flinched.

"Nice shot Nick," Darth snickered.

"Lok, stop fighting Sizz-Lor and help me out!" Nick shouted as he leaped out of the way of Roberto, who was in his full Lycan form. But his armour seemed to stretch and adjust with his shape so that it perfectly fit him.

"He!" THOOM! BOOM! "Called!" THOOM! BOOM! "Me!" THOOM! BOOM! "LAK!" THOOM! BOOM!

Lok, obviously pissed advanced on Sizz-Lor as the Fry Lord stood up. "My name is _Lok!_ L-O-K! Do I have to carve it into that fat gut of yours to make you remember it?"

Sizz-Lor gasped, offended. "You-you-lock what?" He suddenly relaxed, looking more confused than offended now.

"Why'd you suddenly say that?" Lok asked, twitching.

"I heard it offends you a whole lot. Lock what? Lock what? What does your name mean?" Sizz-Lor demanded. "Lock what? Lock what? Are you supposed to lock something! Lock what? Lock what?"

"Shut up!" Lok snapped.

"Lock what lock what-" Sizz-Lor sang.

"I'm warning you!"

"Lock what lock-"

"LOCK THIS!" Lok shouted as he leaped on Sizz-Lor and began to viciously clawed at Sizz-Lor's face.

"AH!" Sizz-Lor stumbled around, trying to remove the enraged Lok. "So it does offend you, _Lokky!_ That should be your new nick name! Lokky!"

"Lokky? Why'd you say that?" Lok asked, pausing in his assault.

"I looked it up on the Irken News that this was your new nickname, Lokky." Sizz-Lor sneered, forcing Lok off. "Congratulations Lokky, you've been set up with a new nick name for life!"

Lok twitched. Nick paused n trying to force Roberto off of him as the Earth suddenly began to shake. Lok growled, his zipper teeth clenched together as he glared at Sizz-Lor with unending hatred. "My." The ground began to crack. "Name." The sun was blocked out overhead. "Is." Something black began to seep out of the ground.

"LOK!" Lok shouted to the skies, and then the black material was upon him.

Darth gasped, clutching his head. "The evil...the evil has come!"

Sizz-Lor backed away, eyes wide, realizing he had gone too far. But Villiae was ecstatic, grinning as she and Roberto joined Sizz-Lor. "You did it Sizz-Lor! He's awakened it! He's awakened the Dark Shard!"

"Dark _Shard?_" Eyes narrowed in concentration, Nick raised his rifle and fired a single stun round that knocked Roberto onto his back, making the werewolf twitch. Nick leaped over a stream of black liquid as it covered Lok, whose enraged screaming and curses were blocked out. He fired a shot into Sizz-Lor's face before the stunned Fry Lord could react, and then he grabbed Villiae's outstretched arm as she tried to lock onto him with her wrist mounted gun.

He dropped his rifle and twisted, throwing her over his shoulder and making her land on her back where he mounted her, aiming a pistol at her chin. "What have you done to Lok? Tell me now!"

Villiae giggled. "Lok's rage has awakened the Dark Shard! A fragment of the Dark Power itself! Now our true fight has begun, Irken scum!"

"What are you talking about?" Nick demanded.

"The Dark Power has been everywhere in this universe," Villiae sneered. "It has gone to places you could not imagine! It has brought darkness to galaxies that burned with chaos like this one! You just never knew it because until now the Shard has been inactive. With Lord shay's coming, the Dark Power's shards awaken to take the unworthy with it to become one with the Dark Power, so they may repay it with eternity of servitude!"

"You're nuts," Nick frowned. "What will this 'shard' do to Lok?"

"It is testing him," Villiae whispered, looking at Lok, who was covered in the liquid from head to toe and was writhing on the ground. "When it combines with him...he will have four paths lad out before him. Two will allow him to live on, either in victory among Shay's ranks as his guardian, or in the blind ignorance you choose to live with. One will result in his death, and the last will bind him to the Dark Power for all of eternity!" She laughed maniacally. "I never thought such a small Irken could carry that much hatred over such a small matter!"

Disgusted, Nick pistol whipped Villiae across the face, leaving her on the edge of unconsciousness. He stood up as the liquid ceased to flow out of the Earth and into Lok. It began to sink into his skin and clothes. When it was done, Lok was laying on his side, perfectly dry. His skin was a few shades more pale though, and his trench coat was now pitch black like the rest of his clothes. He slowly opened his eyes...

His pitch black eyes, dark as night, but reflecting every light like a pool of water. He slowly stood up, looking down at himself. He looked at Nick. "I...feel...I feel amazing right now!" He grinned. "Like I could do anything!"

To emphasize this, Lok grasped a large crate next to him and tossed it up into the air after a brief moment of strain. He then smashed it with his other hand as it came down, showering the area with small bits of silver ore. He laughed. "Amazing!"

"Lok," Nick cautiously approached the mercenary. "Listen to me, Vlliae said that stuff did something to you."

"But I feel great! I feel invincible now!" Lok's innocent grin slowly began to form into a malevolent smirk. "I _am_ invincible."

"That's really great!" Nick nodded. "But I'd like to take a look at you back at the ship before-"

"IRKEN LOK!"

Something smashed into the ground near the two Irkens, who glanced over and saw the newcomer was a familiar face if you ever watched the news.

"General Grash," Nick had his rifle in hand again and aimed at the tall General.

Grash stood at only a quarter inch shorter than Admiral Envon, and was his long time rival in the military. It was a classic 'army boys verses navy boys' style feud. Grash had always felt that Envon was too slow n his conquests-despite reducing casualties in the fleet and army by a large amount. It was a matter of pride in leading, and Grash wanted to lead.

His eyes were blood red, and he wore a the usual black boots and pants most Irken soldiers favoured, but he had a long, brown leather jacket that hugged every muscle and hang to his knees, clipped and zipped shut above the waist and flowing loosely below the waist. He also had several leather belts to clip various weapons to, and had light armour attached to his shoulders, forearms, and his chest area. The armour was a faded brown colour, and much of it was covered by faded charcoal coloured rags covered his arms, legs, and were wrapped around his upper body to hide concealed weapons.

He was every bit the warrior Envon had described him to be.

"So, of all the people to unleash the Shard, it was Purple's pet assassin over his name." Grash crossed his arms.

Nick fired once, and the shot dissipated over a red tinged dome that covered Grash. Nick blinked and fired two more times as Grash started to approach them. After six shots the shield still held.

"Like it? Enhanced Veniran/Irken design modified with a Vortian power source." Grash sneered. "This could take twenty shots from that pea shooter of yours, but since the enhanced power supply keeps it amply supplied, you'll find you'd need something much bigger."

To prove his point, the shield held against a dozen more shots. Nick began to back up. The rifle clicked, empty. He replaced the semi automatic marksman's rifle with a full blown assault rifle. He knew that at this distance and due to the fact that the assault rifle was meant to rip through flesh and armour instead of energy shielding, Nick could only pray that Grash got close enough for Nick to damage the shield enough to lower it.

But then Grash held his left hand out to his side as shoulder level. He let some of the rags fall away, leaving a black and silver device that formed a gauntlet over his hand and most of his forearm. A beam of green energy extended from it. It was like Tallest Zim's energy blade, but shorter, wider. The magnetic field that held the beam's highly lethal plasma in place caused some of the instruments on Nick's rifle-mainly the optics to go haywire.

"Like it? I paid Irk a visit after our new..._Tallest _took over." Grash sneered. "I managed to run a scan of his fancy antique of a PAK and chose to...borrow some things from him for after I dismissed myself from his service."

Nick gulped. "S-so the energy shield-?"

"Splorchamheimer really liked to go to the Venirans for his fancy toys." Grash then cut through a large Excavation Mech's armour. As it sparked, the blade sliced apart the metal like butter ,and Grash moved on, leaving the mech to explode.

Nick gulped. "Are you with those three?" He and Grash circled one another.

"Don't be a fool, I serve nobody but myself." Grash sneered. "I still have my honour, unlike Shay and his legion of zealots. Now stand aside, Communication Drone, I only have to fight the mercenary. You are...optional in this conflict."

"What do you want from me?" Lok snarled viciously.

"Do you not see? The shard has infused with you." Grash smirked. "It seeks life force to bring back to its body, and he who wields the shard shall have one chance and only one chance to decide just who will feed the Dark Power."

"Man, what is this all about anyways?" Nick asked, shaking his head and lowering his rifle. "I don't get how this is happening!"

"Well let me explain it to you a bit..." Grash sighed, deactivating his blade. "The Dark Power wants food...so it sends out the shards...the shards infuse with the first host...and then that host will have to either transfer it or die."

"Wait...this thing is gonna kill me?" Lok looked down at himself.

"Yes," Grash nodded. "But suppose I kill you first...not only will it transfer to me, but it will take you to feed the Dark Power. Those who die on their own leave no...potential prizes for those left behind. But those who kill for the Dark Power earn their lives, their freedom...and a gift of gratitude."

"...so you want to kill Lok," Nick said slowly. "Take this...whatever the florp it is into yourself...kill one of us...and get some reward from whatever this Dark Power is?"

"Ah! An Irken with brains! I like that!" Grash clapped his hands slowly.

_Clap._

_Clap._

"It's no hard feelings, really." Grash said sincerely. "But I am not willing to let the empire rot,"

_Clap._

"In the hands of a Defective traitor who would leave us bare and exposed to our vengeful enemies,"

_Clap._

"So I need a little...lightning rod to rally my allies to. On my own I am impressive, but Zim has all his fancy powers...so I need something better." Grash stepped towards them. "So again it is nothing personal, I do this all for the Empire."

Suddenly his blade shot to life, as did a matching one on his right wrist. "So do me a favour and spare yourself a slow death Lok, and I promise not to kill one of your friends as my second victim."

"Well I-hey wait a second..." Lok said. "He got my name right! FINALLY A SMART ONE!"

Grash was suddenly in front of Lok, who yelped and ducked under his left blade, his antennae just missing being sliced off. Lok then launched himself back, twisted, planted his left hand into the sand, then his right, and came down on his right foot, executing a perfect cart wheel. Grash came at him again before he was even upright, jabbing his right blade-mimicking a Hook Punch, he aimed at Lok's neck. The blow would have decapitated him and ended the fight, but Lok pivoted so that the blade just burned a part of his coat's collar.

Nick raised his rifle and fired three times. The shots bounced off the shield, but he kept up the barrage, rushing in for better aim and damage. Grash spun as soon as he got close enough, but Nick ducked under a swing that would have cut him in half horizontally at his solar plexus. He rolled between the tall Irken's spread legs and came up behind him, firing again, but the dome was there again.

Nick paused. 'That shield, it protects against my bullets, but I passed right through it...' He looked at his assault rifle as Grash tried to impale Lok on his left blade. In his moment of focus, Nick left himself open and took a boot to the face, ending up on his back. He shook his head as his face cloth fell away, and saw Grash swing his right arm over himself in an arch that would end with Nick's head being split in half.

But then something hit Grash's arm...and went through the upper arm. Grash grunted, startled by the surprise attack. He looked at the knife that had hit him and then to the source...

Darth.

"Good shot Darth!" Nick shouted. "How'd you do that?"

"Hah! I could hear his voice enough that it was pathetically easy to find out where to throw to hit his head!" Darth boasted.

"Uh...you hit his arm." Lok said.

"..._Etchuta!_" Darth cursed.

Tugging the knife out of his arm, Grash tossed it right back at Darth...and it flew between his antennae. Darth looked around. "Huh? What was that?"

Nick scrambled back, realizing Grash didn't need a whole lot of time to recover from..._anything!_

Bringing up a pistol from his belt, he fired desperately at the General, whose shield was beginning to collapse under the strain of taking so many shots in a short time. Grash leaped into the air, his left arm reared back, the blade poised to impale Nick.

He landed and jabbed down.

Xxx

_**On the other side of the galaxy**_

_**64**__**th**__** Irken Fleet's Flagship, the Setepia...**_

"**WARNING. WARNING. DISTRESS SIGNAL DETECTED!"**

Admiral-Prince Envon walked onto the bridge as an Irken called that the CO was on the deck. "Status report, now!"

"Incoming Code Red your majesty!" One operator shouted as the crew scrambled into action.

"Point of origin?" Envon took his seat.

"The Lebinine system, seven light years away." This came from Envon's Executive Officer, Captain Tibix. Tibix was a former XO to one of Envon's colleagues, the feared Admiral Tantax, who had been rather...competitive with Envon's 64th Fleet for Top Gun of the Armada. Tibix supposedly had been involved with some sort of experiment that had resulted in his pitch black eyes.

The Irken had helped Tantax to conquer numerous planets while commanding over the 83rd Battle Fleet. After the seventeenth successful conquest though, Tibix had chosen to take a chance now that Tallest Splorchamheimer was retaking power. He hijacked Tantax's command ship and left him and what was left of the 83rd to fend for themselves, taking any Irkens loyal to Zim with him.

And as an award for his loyalty, he was placed under the command of royal blood. Knowing that Envon had his rank before Zim had taken power, Tibix hadn't made the mistake of thinking Envon had the position out of sheer favour from his father.

"Any other ships in range?" Envon asked.

"Negative, we're the largest fleet near Lebinine." Tibix shook his head.

"Alright then, signal the fleet to hold position over Irk." Envon said. "This might be an attack from our friends of the Dark Power, so I want Irk to be well protected. I'll be taking the Setepia to investigate."

"Shall I inform Tallest Zim?" A communication drone asked.

"Please do so, and ask that as soon as a patrol group is nearby he reroutes it to Lebinine." Envon replied.

"All hands, this is the XO, prepare to Hyper Jump." Tibix spoke through a mike, addressing the tens of thousands of crew onboard the massive Levask cruiser.

"FTL ready!" One office shouted.

"Navigation confirmed, destination Lebinine." The Helmsman drawled.

"Engines operating at full output." A third Irken stated. "Accelerating to Hyper Jump. Hyper field established...jump."

The massive ship than shot out of existence over Irk and reappeared seven light years away, a mere stone's throw for an Irken war ship. The Lebinine system had four planets, only two of which were inhabited by the Lebinans, who had been the first race to fall to Irk. Now the remaining population of around three hundred million had divided their population between the two planets.

"Sir, receiving communications from Lebinine Prime." The Comm Drone stated. "Lebinine II is silent. Repeat, no communications from Lebinine II."

"Ask what happened." Envon ordered.

"Defence Fleet Commander Roden has sent response...attacked, Defence Fleet overwhelmed at Lebinine II...only just managed to send a message after enemy fleet was gone." The Drone looked up. "Somebody was here, right on the door step of Irk and we never knew until now because they left."

"So they invaded Lebinine II and just left?" Envon asked.

"Wait...long range scanners have picked up a vessel over orbit at Lebinine II." A drone spoke up. "IFF confirmed, it's the Levask!"

The Levask ,the first of its class and the flag ship of one Irken.

"Admiral Sket." Envon growled. "Charge weapons ,shields up, bring us about and head for Lebinine II. Send transmission package to the Levask."

"ready sir."

"Message begins: Admiral Sket you are under arrest for the unlawful invasion of Lebinine and for war crimes against the Irken Empire. Power down your engines and surrender." Envon said. "Message ends."

"Recorded and it's away!" The drone stated as the Setepia moved into range of the Levask.

"Response coming in...they're opening a frequency."

Suddenly, a familiar face appeared on the screen. It wasn't Admiral Sket however...

"Tantax," Tibix whispered, lightly shaken from seeing his old commander.

"Ah, Tibix, I see you remember me." Tantax laughed. "Hard to forget the face of the leader you stabbed in the back, is it?"

Tantax was a veteran who could rival Invader Dev when it came to battle scars. His left eye was covered by the patch while his right one, golden yellow and blazing with the same excited anticipation of a warrior preparing to spill blood scanned the bridge crew. Envon once remembered when Tantax had taken off his gloves to allow a DNA scan to be done on his hand-supposedly the Resisty had an Irken Spy in the Tallest Tower, so everybody needed one; the middle finger of Tantax's right hand had bee na synthetic replacement. Envon didn't want to venture a guess on how he lost it.

"And the illustrious Admiral Envon," Tantax leaned closer to the screen. "Oh I'm sorry, it's _Prince_ Envon now, isn't it?"

"Tantax," Envon growled. "I should have worked harder to bring you down after you went rogue. I see my mistake has been costly."

"You sound as if you think you would have won!" Tantax sneered. "Well then _Prince_ Envon, I'm right here and with you here I'll be staying a little longer than expected."

"You won't be leaving at all," Envon replied coldly. "You're dead, Tantax, _Sacram Sanguitau!_"

Sacram Sanguitau, an Irken promise that would be fulfilled no matter how long it took or how hard it was to fulfill. And Envon had just marked Tantax with this oath.

"Ooh, scary," Tantax feigned fright. "Talk is cheap, Prince, let your talent do the talking. If you so wish to fight me, then come and meet me. We may end this without the loss of your ship and many of my soldiers."

"Is that an offer to parley?" Tibix asked sceptically. "That's nothing like you at all!"

"What can I say? I'm a changed Irken. " Tantax shrugged. "The offer has been made. Meet me if you dare."

The link was cut.

"Sir, The Levask has launched fighters and they are taking up a defensive formation." An officer spoke up.

"Launch our own, but nobody attacks yet." Envon ordered. "Do not fire unless fired upon or hostile craft attempt to approach our air space. Run a scan of the planet."

"Yes sir...there was supposed to be a hundred and fifty million on the planet, right?"

"Yes."

"I only detect a third of that amount." The sensor drone swallowed. "And we have over ten million gathered in one area. In the capital."

"That's our destination then," Envon stood. "Ready the teleporters, we've already field tested them, we may just need them for this."

"I'm going with the ground party," Tibix stated. "Tantax is my commander ,he's my responsibility."

"...then we need our 3IC." Envon said.

"You're coming too?"

"I'm not a..._professional_ Admiral or Prince." Envon replied. "I was a soldier since I first learned to fight, doesn't feel right to send somebody else to die in my place. We just need our third in command to command here."

"That's me!" A young, petite, female Irken shouted as she slid to a stop in front of the two.

"Ah, Tenn! Good timing!" Envon nodded. "The bridge is yours Commander Tenn."

"Thank you my lord!" Tenn saluted Envon.

"Please, just Envon." Envon insisted. "We're friends, remember?"

Before Tenn could reply, a siren wailed. Envon looked around. "What is that?"

"Incoming distress call from the Capital," Tibix answered, looking at a drone's screen. "Bring it up!"

"Decoding sir!" The drone replied.

Soon the message was up.

"Aw florp," Envon deadpanned.

"You gotta be kidding me." Tenn said.

"Nope," Tibix sighed. "It's official, the mission got harder."

_**To Irken Vessel, we are trapped, cut off, all guards dead, Gor's whiny, please help before I kill him or somebody finds us.**_

_**-Second Tallest Arnor.**_

"...Why the florp are Gor and Arnor here?" Envon demanded.

"On a diplomatic mission to improve peace relations with the Lebinians." Tenn explained. "Arnor was the ambassador...Gor was just there because Zim wanted some quiet in the Tallest Tower and to make the mission look more official than just one ambassador going."

"Well as much as Gor is whiny and Arnor's a smart ass, we can't leave them to die." Envon said. "Get me Omega Team, in the Teleporter, ten minutes ago."

"Yes my lord!" Tenn nodded.

"It's Envon damn it!"

Xxx

Ten minutes later, three Irkens, one male and two female were waiting for Envon and Tibix when they entered the teleporter room.

One of the members of Omega Team had violet eyes and the Irken symbol tattooed in pitch black to her left cheek. She was chewing gum and looked bored. Her name was Elay, or as she preferred to be called: E. She was mainly a pilot, but she was on Omega for a reason, she was best for a rescue mission.

The next team member-the team leader, was male and had green eyes and ...oddly a cow boy hat. His pistols looked like futuristic revolvers and he had cow boy boots. He was smoking a cigarette, which he stamped out under one foot after Tibix said there was no smoking in the teleporter room. His name was Rik, an expert marksman and gunslinger extraordinaire. All in all, he was Clint Eastwood's alien cousin.

The third Omega had lime green eyes and was smaller than E. She whistling as she polished her armour's left gauntlet. If Envon didn't know that Melva was a deadly stealth specialist who had gone to the academy with Skullene and even endured the same harassment she had from Red and Purple he wouldn't have let her set foot on the ship with how she was acting so casual. She was more feminine than E or Skullene put together, that was for sure, but just as good a fighter.

"Omega Team! Ten-hut!" Rik barked; his voice oddly similar to a southern accent from the United States on Earth.

"At ease," Envon said before they were all even up. "Alright, we'll be landing in the Capital City so be ready for anything."

"You got it chief!" E cradled a plasma launcher.

Melva twirled a knife between her fingers and then sheathed it. She was not carrying big hulking guns like Rik and E were, instead she just had a simple pistol and a series of blades and other weapons made to silently kill. "Ready to move out." She flattened her antennae to her head so they would not catch on anything and stretched like a cat.

"Rodger," Rik twirled a gun around one finger and then holstered it.

"It'll be strictly observation for the first half of this," Envon stated. "We'll see what's going on, and then locate Tantax. We've triangulated his position and he's somewhere in the Capital near the Senate Building."

"Gotcha, scope it out and knock off that no good scum," Rik nodded.

Tibix was suddenly next to E. "Hey there ma'am, if you need any help with anything..." He leaned closer and whispered into her antenna. "I'm available for _all_ your problems, and I do mean _all_ of them."

"Well aren't you just a gentlemen?" E blinked innocently up at Tibix, using a southern bell accent. "Why I'm due to faint." She feigned a swoon.

Tibix grinned and prepared to catch her...and instead felt something grab his _portable smeetery_. E smiled sweetly at him. "But if you try to flirt with me, I'll be due to rip off your happy place, sir." She released him and reverted to her normal voice. "I'll give you credit though, that's a big target for me to rip off." She winked and then walked over to the teleporter pad.

Envon patted a flushed Tibix on the shoulder. "I told you once I'll tell you again Tibix, don't try to flirt with a soldier. That s one tunnel you can't storm."

"But I can gently slip into it." Tibix said suggestively...and was hit on the back of the head. "Okay I had that one coming."

"Yes you did, now come on Romeo," Envon dragged him onto the teleporter pad. "Computer, input pre-set coordinates and deploy!"

The five Irkens vanished in a flash of light.

Xxx

They reappeared in the middle of a wrecked city. Several survivors looked up as the five armed Irkens appeared, weapons raised. They lowered their guns as several Lebinians approached. They looked like they had spider bodies attached to a humanoid upper body. They all had four eyes, and didn't look too hideous; some of their women were even considered some of the best looking around. Their flesh was bright white and usually flawless, and their eyes looked like irken eyes.

"Thank god, the Irken Navy!" A male Lebinian said.

"Hah! Their precious navy was wiped out!" Another Lebinian grumbled.

"I am Admiral-Prince Envon of the Setepia," Envon said. "We came here in response to your distress call."

"And you only bring four soldiers with you Admiral? Where is the mighty army of Irk?" One woman shouted.

"Please! Let us not be ungrateful, they have at least come to help us, correct?" The first Lebinian asked.

Envon nodded. "First we need to know what the invaders have been doing down here, then we'll take out their leader. Once that is done, my ship and army shall engage. Until then we must be covert and silent."

"They have been gathering people into the center of the city." The Lebinian said. "Survivors from the down town area. They have flown in countless from the countryside also. We have remained hidden using the underground power generator's energy signature. It seems to block out the natural energy our body generates. Before our military fell, we managed to establish that this was how they detected us with their gunships."

The entire city was in ruin. Buildings were close to crumbling and not a single street was suitable for driving on. Countless vehicles had fallen from the sky, even several war ships lay in ruin among the streets.

"What do they want with your people?" Envon asked.

"They will not say, they just take more of us." The Lebinian shook his head. "I beg of you, stop this madness!"

"I shall do what I can, I promise." Envon said. "Do you have wounded? We have medical supplies."

"We are well supplied ourselves, do not worry for us." The Lebinian shook his head. "The Central Plaza is to the west. They have people crowding every street and alley for miles to the southward direction from the plaza. I fear they will kill them!"

Suddenly a voice boomed through the city. "Prince Envon! I know you are in _my_ city." Tantax announced. "I have over twenty percent of the surviving population gathered. Meet me at the Senate Building, or I will have them all killed. You have been warned."

Envon looked at them. "And now I have no choice but to do my damn best." He looked to Omega Team. "Tibix, take E and run recon on the plaza. I'll take Melva and Rik and circle around to the Senate building. We'll find a way in on our own."

"You got it," Tibix nodded. "We'll be discreet."

"I pray you keep that promise." Envon said as the two Irkens ran off.

Xxx

Nick tried to dodge Grash's next attack, but the blade cleaved through his side. He briefly cried out in pain, one hand over the cauterized wound as he stumbled away, his free hand aiming his pistol at Grash, who raised his sword for the killing blow...only for Lok to tackle him.

Grash elbowed Lok in the face and rolled so Lok fell off of him. They both got up and Lok ducked under Grash's next attack, and grasped Grash's arm with amazing strength that stopped the taller Irken cold. Then Lok twisted and jammed his right elbow into Grash's ribs. Then he twisted his right arm so his knuckles slammed into Grash's face. Grash grunted in pain, and was tossed over Lok and slammed into an excavation mech, which was knocked over, starting a wave of dominoes with matching machines.

"You're both in for it now," Grash stood up. "I'm not playing anymore Lok." He retracted his energy blade and held up his hands. "The truth is Lok...I know how the Dark Shard works...because I've already killed with it before...and it gave me quite the power boost, or at least _a _Dark Shard did."

"Then why do you want mine?" Lok demanded.

"_More_ power!" Grash smirked. "Let me show you."

He suddenly fired a stream of energy from his hands that Lok barely managed to dodge. It slammed into a large crane...which exploded.

"That is a taste of my power," Grash chuckled.

"WHOA!" Nick shouted. "That's what the Shard gives you?"

"That and more," Grash declared. "But it weakens me, it is a young gift...and I am not yet master of it. But with more Shards...I will have enough power to restore the empire in my own image!"

"Aw hell," Lok groaned.

"I know!" Darth said. "He's going cliché on us!"

Grash growled and shot at Lok. Before Lok could reply, Grash scooped him up and swung him into the air, slamming his foot into Lok's chest to send him flying. Suddenly Grash launched himself up and grabbed Lok in midair. He spun, the air shimmering around him with every move as he slammed Lok into the side of a crane. Lok groaned in pain before Grash stood on the top of the crane and began to run down it, dragging Lok against the metal. Lok screamed in pain as he was battered and bruised by the metal components.

Grash then swung Lok up into the air and gathered energy into his hands. He aimed up at Lok and fired, cackling as Lok was hit and fell to the ground without a sound. Bloody, cut up, and with one eye swollen shut, the mercenary was barely conscious. He groaned as he slowly got up, only for Grash to appear in front of him.

His energy blade hissed to life and he swung down at Lok, who batted Grash's arm aside with a swing that took most of his strength. Stumbling back, Lok gasped for breath as he leaned against a machine. He shakily drew his pistol and raised it. He fired once, and the plasma washed over the shield, which sputtered.

Grash looked down at his belt, where the generator was. "Shorted out...lovely."

He reared his arm back and swung at Lok, who fired his pistol at the same time as Nick.

...and all three attacks hit Villiae. She groaned as the blade sank into her chest, and a shot hit her between her shoulder blades and another in her side.

"What-why did you save me?" Lok sputtered, barely able to stay up.

"C-couldn't let...this heathen...take...the power..."Villiae whispered. "Better...one other...takes it...rather than him...taking two shards."

She kicked Grash in the chest and activated a set of thrusters on her boot that sent him flying. She turned and looked at Lok. "I'd rather a fool like you would get it instead of a determined enemy lke Grash." She collapsed against him, gripping his shoulders and hissing. "With my life...you'll have your gift...and it will test you...your paths will be opened...choose wisely...or burn in the absence of the Dark Power...forever."

She then went limp, her eyes clouding over as the corpse caused a wounded Lok to fall to the ground. Suddenly a black fluid leaked from her eyes and travelled down to Lok's face. He tried to swat it away, but it stuck to his hands and then made its way to his mouth where it forced its way down his throat. He gagged and vomited up more of the black fluid, the colour slowly retreating from his coat and eyes. When it was over, a large pond of the black liquid was in front of Lok, who was still coughing to clear his lungs as Darth helped him to his feet.

"That is it!" Darth pointed to the pond. "That is the source of this! It is the evil on this planet! It caused bonkers to go crazy!"

"But how could it do this?" Lok wheezed. "This Dark Power...what is it?"

"Something far stronger than you could ever appreciate, Lak!" Sizz-Lor, who stood on the other side of the pond growled, Roberto next to him. "When you killed Villiae...you took her essence and added it to the Shard. Now it will return to our master."

"Master-"

The black liquid suddenly became blindingly bright. Lok and Nick screamed in shock before the light shot up into the sky and vanished. The pond of black tar like liquid was gone.

"By the gods!" Lok groaned.

"Hey...your wounds!" Nick said, pointing at Lok. "Your wounds are gone!"

Lok now only had a thin layer of dirt on him instead of the many bruises and swollen areas Grash had given him from his beating. His eyes were purple again...but they had a single black slit shaped pupil in the middle of his eyes.

"Damn it!" Grash stood up from where he had landed. "That bitch took my chance!" He growled. "That power, wasted on a pathetic contract killer!"

He summoned another charge of energy to his hands. "I can't afford loose ends Lok, nothing personal!" He fired at Lok, who raised his hands as Darth and Nick leaped back...and the lightning stopped mere inches from his hands. Lok blinked as the air in front of the chain of lightning shimmered, some discolouration in the air pushing back on the attack. Lok clenched his teeth and forced his way forward.

Eyes wide with rage, Grash snarled. In the middle of his eyes, a similar black pupil appeared as his attack grew in power. Lok strained to get closer, the shield that he had formed protecting him.

And then he was close enough that the lightning never even left Grash's hands. Lok grasped his wrists and forced them up. The lightning shot into the air, leaving a pillar of light for all to see for miles.

And then Lok felt a tug. It was in his mind, something was urging him to do something...something...

_Kill him...feed him to the Dark Power._

It was his own voice, yet not his own.

'Kill him? But I need him alive.'

_He tried to kill you...kill him now...and I will give you powers you could not comprehend..._

'No...no! I-I have a job to do-a mission!'

_He is your enemy...KILL HIM!_ The voice roared.

"NO!" Lok shouted out loud, and a wave of energy sent Grash flying back. Grash slid fifteen feet, remaining on his feet. He staggered as he came to a stop.

"Damn...the power's manifested." Grash growled. "I'm too damn late..." He turned, straightening his coat. "I expended too much on my earlier attacks, I cannot continue in a fight like this."

"You're not going anywhere!" Darth shouted. "You are a wanted criminal Grash and you will rot in a cell for what you have-"

Lok saw the lightning shoot at Darth from Grash's hand. He leaped infront of it and held his hands out. That same tug was on his mind as the shield manifested itself and deflected the lightning into the sky. Gasping for breath, Lok looked at his hands.

"So the first battle has ended." Grash intoned as he walked away.

"Now...the war begins." With that, Lok collapsed.

Sizz-Lor and Roberto had vanished with Vlliae's corpse. Nick and Darth knelt over the unconscious mercenary, trying to rouse him.

"Kay!" Nick shouted into his radio as clouds began to gather. "Lok's down! We need you to pick us up!"

"_On the way, give me thirty seconds." _Kay replied.

"_The sensors picked up a massive burst of energy, and then there were two flashes of light...what happened over there?" _Loe asked suspiciously.

"No time, get us out of here! It'll rain in a few seconds!" Darth exclaimed.

Seconds later the Omni-Hunter was hovering over them as the rain began to fall. Under the cover of the ship, Nick and Darth dragged Lok on board.

"What the hell is this Dark Power?" Nick whispered. "How could it cause all of this?"

"I don't know," Darth replied. "But it isn't good Nick...it's nothing but evil, and I heard it in Lok's mind. Whatever it is, it is _in_ him and part of him." As the hatch shut behind them, Darth released Lok. "And I fear what will happen if he answers it."

Xxx

End of chapter


	4. Chapter 4

A Dark Power

This story includes characters owned by Zim'sMostLoyalServant, ngrey651, zombiefear101, and my good friend from DeviantArt Bloddyrosepettles.

I own nothing.

There will be talk of alternate timelines and universes in this, so try not to get confused.

Xxx

**Episode 3: Unleash the Dogs of War**

_**Earth...**_

"Hm..." Carlos put the pipe back in his mouth and blew out several bubbles. He spoke using his british accent that made him sound like Sherlock Holmes when Robert Downy Jr played him. "Kurt my good friend, this will require every fibre of our intelligence to overcome."

Next to him, Kurt nodded, watching the base through some binoculars. The base was in the middle of Nevada, and isolated from civilization.

"Four sentries, all armed." Carlos noted. "Turrets, fully automatic. Laser guns, heat seeking missiles...and...girl scouts?"

Down on the base perimeter, a soldier was leading several girl scouts.

"And that concludes our tour of Area 51!" The soldier said. "Thank you and feel free to come again with more cookies!"

"By Mister soldier!" The girl scouts got onto their bus and drove out...through the public entrance to the base.

The two fighters exchanged a glance and then looked at the big wide Public Entrance to Area 51.

"...are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Kurt made signs with his hands as a response.

"Exactly, we must act quickly."

Xxx

ZZZTTTT!

"AH-OWOW-OW-OW-OW!" Skoodge screamed as he was shocked. "STOP IT!"

"Tell us where the rest of your armada is located!" The interrogator snarled. "We know that alien species of Living Pants sent you, so talk!"

"I wasn't sent by anybody!" Skoodge sobbed. "I'm on vacation! You can kill me but you'll NEVER get your pants!"

"Damn it, this one is strong." The agent noted. "This will require every fibre of my intelligence to overcome-"

Suddenly a guard outside screamed. "WHAT THE F-" BOOM!

The wall exploded inwards, knocking back the agents. Suddenly the Terminator theme began to play as _he_ walked in. Tall, clad entirely in black, and holding a grenade launcher at his side in one hand. Hair slicked back and glasses covering his eyes.

Kurt walked into the room, looking impressive and intimidating...and was followed by Carlos, dressed in a matching attire.

"You two? Why are you here? " Skoodge asked fearfully. "Are you here to kill me? IS that why you're dressed to kill?"

Kurt looked down at Skoodge.

"...No."

Suddenly a black hole opened out in the hall way as a result of Kurt talking and sucked in the security guards who had rushed in behind the duo.

"You must live."

The black hole spat the agents back out...from a dimension of pure itchiness. They screamed as they scratched at their swollen skin.

"We're here to save your fat ass, what else?" Carlos chuckled as he released the alien. "We need you to get Dib's ass out of his ceiling. Now get your bloated butt moving!"

Skoodge sulked. "My Cold Unfeeling Robot Arm just said I was big boned."

Agents rushed in and surrounded the three, guns and all sorts of weapons aimed at them.

"Halt! That alien is US Government property!" The head agent barked.

"Kurt! Go to Plan B!" Carlos grabbed Skoodge.

"What's plan B?" Skoodge screamed.

Kurt pulled out a remote as Carlos held Skoodge over his head...and leaped up, slamming through the roof.

"OW MY FACE!" Skoodge screamed from the floor above as the shocked agents look on.

Kurt hit the button...

The True Evil let itself be known and the agents began to scream as the unholiest of sounds blared over the loud speakers inside the base. As they collapsed, crying for their mothers Kurt-wearing ear plugs leaped up after Carlos and Skoodge.

"Let's get outta here!" Carlos declared with a grin, wearing ear plugs of his own.

"What? I can't hear you!" Skoodge, gripping his antennae to block out the sound.

"I said let's go!"

"What?" Skoodge shouted.

Kurt couldn't hear his fiery nemesis/friend either.

Carlos sighed. "Morons." He pulled out a card and wrote on it. He held up the message.

"What the hell does it say?" Skoodge asked.

Apparently neither he nor Kurt knew how to read Demonic Writing.

Carlos chose to just drag them outside and off the base property...past the unguarded public gate...which was WIDE open for the world to see.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Carlos presents you the US Government's most secret base: Area 51.

Xxx

_**Lebinine II**_

Envon and Rik lifted the grate out of place and gently set it down. Melva climbed through and dropped down twenty feet. She landed, rolling and had a knife out before she was even on her feet.

She had just dropped through the roof of the transport terminal connected to the Senate Buiildng. Outside she could hear million of Lebinians outside, crying and panicking, waiting to die.

The team had traced the edges of the security zone around the civilians to the east side of the Senate Building. All of the civilians were being forced into areas to the west of it, so they went unseen. But Melva had gone down an emergency smoke vent and right into the middle of three guards. They wore featureless black helmets and cradled fully charged guns and bloody blades. The original Lebinian guards and many of the mysterious invaders lay dead all around from the invasion, which had taken mere hours to complete. Over a hundred million wiped out in mere hours, something even Envon and Grash would have had trouble doing on a good day with the 64th Fleet.

Melva activated the stealth generator attached to her wrist as the three guards turned. When they saw nothing, they went back to patrolling the dead bodies until one soldier stopped. He found a Lebinian trying to pull herself towards the exit. She was trying not to cry and scream, four of her legs ripped off from the battle. She looked up and whimpered as he slowly raised his pistol...

And his throat was sliced open, sending out a fountain of blood. Melva's stealth generator deactivated so it could power her armour's polarization against the energy weapons being aimed at her. She took out a small dome shaped device that had a single button on the flat bottom. She slammed it down, and it threw up a shield around herself and the wounded soldier. The other two soldiers fired their rifles, delivering dozens of shots to the shield.

DOW! One guard's head was blown open. Rik was sliding down a wire he lowered through the vent, one revolver-laser in hand. The other guard spun, but Rik had pushed down on the hammer and fired again. The shot of highly concentrated energy was stronger than a single shot from a rifle or regular pistol, so it blew open the alien's helmet and left no trace of his head, only a splatter of blue blood all around his corpse.

Envon squeezed down through the vent as Rik unclipped himself. The three Irkens helped the wounded soldier onto a nearby bench.

"Irkens...thank the goddesses." The Lebinian whispered.

"You'll be fine," Melva assured the injured soldier, already beginning to seal the stumps of her legs.

"Are the Lebinian Delegates in the senate?" Envon asked gently.

The soldier nodded. "Yes, they were in a meeting when the invasion began. My squad...we tried to hold the transport hub, but the delegates never arrived to evacuate."

"They're most likely being held captive, Tantax is smart enough to keep hostages of high importance." Melva stated.

"They also have the two Tall Irkens...Arnor and Gor there." The soldier coughed up some blood. "I heard over the radio that they had found them hiding and moved them to the senate chamber."

"Well then this changes things." Envon opened is radio. "Tibix, E, status?"

Xxx

"We found out how they're getting their troops down here." Tibix whispered, watching a massive tower like structure that was obviously not Lebinian. It looked more like it had dug its way into a plaza. A brght beam came down on it, and moments later a door at its base opened and let off a fresh squad of invading soldiers of varying race...with a Front Line Battle Mech.

"Holy Irk," E whispered as the colossal war machine towered over them. "They have a Front Line Battle Mech!"

"Looks old...must be a Mk IV variant." Tibix noted. "Envon, do we have any Front Line Battle Mechs in storage on the Setepa?"

"_A full dozen of them, they were supposed to be for invasions and we never bothered to remove them._" Envon replied. "_Call it...a gut feeling, I felt we might need them, and better to have and not need rather than need and not have._"

"I won't judge," Tibix said. "Can we teleport one down?"

"_Not right in front of the enemy Battle Mech...but maybe I can get you the next best thing." _Envon replied. _"Setepa, this is Envon. Load up three of the Front Line Battle Mechs and teleport them to the edge of the district. Have them loaded with a full compliment and armament."_

"_Sir, the authorization of FLBMs is only allowed during a time of war." _Tenn replied.

"_I'm giving you an order Tenn!_"

"_I know, I was only saying I need you to say it so the computer will acknowledge._"

"_Oh right..." _Envon sighed. _"Computer, this is Admiral-Prince Envon of the Irken Royal Family and Navy. Acknowledge."_

"_**Acknowledged, proceed my liege.**__" _The Setepa's AI replied.

"_I am declaring a state of armed conflict and authorizing the release of three Front Line Battle Mechs."_

"_**Acknowledged, input pass code."**_

"_Pass Code. Splor. Nine. Gir. Five. Seven. Miyuki. Zero. Miyuki...Zero." _Envon paused on the last part. _"Unleash the dogs of war."_

Xxx

Inside the Setepa, the call went out. Tens of thousands of soldiers looked up as that familiar siren rang out, the one from the days of Red and Purple. And they leaped to their feet as the order was sent out for the first three FLBMs to be deployed.

A part of the Setepa had been set aside for the behemoths during Impending Doom II. A full dozen of them, each the size of a sky scraper. They were so big they were one tenth the height of the Setepa and the bay took up a large portion of the ship closer to the rear. Three of them kactivated, lights flashing on to illuminate them.

Their four man crews were waiting on cat walks that were extended over to the entry hatches, and rushed in. Robotic arms began to load missiles and energy cells into each FBLM until they were fully armed and ready.

"**Initializing Transfer.**" An operator in the control booth announced. "**FBLMs 1, 2, and 3, ready for transfer. Please stand by...execute.**"

The three FBLMs vanished one by one...

And reappeared hundreds of miles away in the Capital City of Lebinine II.

The invading army detected them immediately before the three massive mechs unleashed the artillery guns mounted on their backs. They launched bright glowing spheres miles into the air, and made them come down on several streets and plazas occupied by patrols and invading vehicles.

As the three Mechs made their way towards the Senate Building, things began to escalate. In orbit, the Levask's fighters charged for the Setepa, which replied with salvos of laser fire from its own fighter wings.

Xxx

"Sir! That coward Envon has deployed FBLMs against us!" An officer rushed into the Senate Room, where Tantax sat in the chair of the Chancellor. Two dozen Setepian officials lay surrounded by guards with rifles ready. "We should execute our prisoners!"

"No." Tantax shook his head. "Envon has made a decisive move...and I will only execute them if he fails to show up. I am no coward."

"Hah!" Third Tallest Gor shouted from where he sat with the prisoners. "Our troops are coming to kick your ass! Traitor!"

"Shut it," Second Tallest Arnor muttered, tugging Gor down as he tried to stand.

"But-!"

"Not yet," Arnor whispered.

"Resume things as normal." Tantax ignored the two Tallers. "No executions...yet."

"But sir-"

TSEW!

BOOM!

The wall next to the officer was blown away, killing him. And three rather displeased Irkens climbed through. The guards aimed their rifles at Envon, Rik, and Melva.

Rik quickly tossed something into the air as Envon and Melva donned odd looking masks-they looked like gas masks from Earth. The device exploded as Rik closed his eyes and grasped his antennae. The stun grenade disabled the platoon of soldiers holding the Senate hostage, and allowed Envon and and Melva to leap into their midst.

Tantax smirked, watching as the three intruders began to dispatch his recovering troops one by one. He slowly stood up and began to clap as Envon cleaved one soldier open with a knife, and Melva sliced the throats of three more with a single spin. The bloody dance ended, and Envon shouted. "Get out of here! Hurry!"

The delegates thanked them and fled. Gor went with them, but Arnor picked up a discarded pistol and stood next to the rescue team.

"Arnor ,you have to go!" envon said.

"No," Arnor shook his head. "I've had it up to here with running all day. I'll stay and help execute this godless bastard."

"Bravo! Bravo! Excellent!" Tantax cackled, leaping off of the Chancellor's Podium and landing in front of the three. "As I expected from the great Envon! Where you go, blood is spilt and forms oceans!"

"You're insane, and you'll rot in oblivion." Melva glared at the rogue officer, cleaning off one of her knife blades.

"Perhaps...but for now the Darkness of oblivion is on my side," Tantax chuckled. "Lebinine II wasn't a random target anymore than Frigia Prime was by Sket."

"Might as well kill him too while we're at it then," Envon cut in. "Where is he?"

"Far from here, he donated his old flag ship to me as a gift between allies." Tantax shook his head. "You'll have to look a lot longer to find him; he stands right at the side of Lord Shay."

"Again with this Shay guy." Envon muttered.

Tantax smiled pleasantly. "If you wish to throw your lives away...then come at me."

"With pleasure!" Rik snapped his pistol up and fired three times.

Tantax held his hand up, and the air in front of his air shimmered, becoming distorted as the lasers struck it...and broke into many tiny lights that swirled around clockwise like some mixture of liquid. He smiled and squeezed his palm, turning the scattered positive energy into one big sphere of condense energy. He then held his hand out, palm facing them...and fired the laser right from his hand!

The Irkens scattered, but the laser blew a hole in the floor. Melva screamed as she fell through it and into darkness. Rik raised his pistol and tried to fire again, but Tantax repeated this defence and sent another sphere-smaller than the first back at Rik. Rik deployed a barrier generator, but the shield shattered and a weakened plasma ball struck his armour in the chest plate, sending him flying into a wall.

"How...?" Envon groaned as he stood up.

"The Dark Power has gifted me!" Tantax smirked. "Plasma weaponry relies on magnetic fields to direct their projectiles. I merely...take control of those magnetic fields, thereby controlling the plasma it contains." He slid back one sleeve, revealing some sort of device that he activated. "I decided to add this to my arsenal as a result of this new power."

The device began to leak out a bright red light that Tantax held a hand over, forming it into a sphere. It was surprising how bright a laser was when it didn't die as fast as it appeared like when shot from a gun.

"He's a living laser gun," Envon held up his pistol. "Just my luck."

Tantax reared his arm back to throw, but then another shot struck the energy sphere, causing it to explode in his hand. He grunted in pain and snarled at Second Tallest Arnor, who moved next to Envon.

"Good shot," Envon nodded.

"Two years outta practice, but I've still got it." Arnor replied. "Now let's take him!"

Xxx

_**Irk System, Outer Irk **_

"It came from here?" Grim asked.

"Yes sir," the elite guard replied, opening the hatch as four other guards aimed their rifles at it. "Don't know what it is, but it ain't friendly."

Outer Irk was the fourth planet from Irk's sun. It was barely half the size of Irk and had only a military garrison in a single base used as a sensor outpost. Over a thousand soldiers occupied the planet, which was mostly untouched, used to store a series of dangerous flora and fauna outside the massive compound.

But what was under it was another matter.

"Are you sure you want to go down? We called in our combat HAZMAT teams-"

"I'll just take a quick look around." Grim put on the oxygen mask given to him and spoke, his voice filtered by the device. "The maintenance tunnels have breaches that connect to under water caverns, correct?"

"Yeah, nobody ever went down to fix it after a team vanished." The guard nodded. "Let me know if you see them."

"Count on it," Grim then leaped down, using his PAK legs to catch himself. He looked around the dim corridor he had landed in. The Maintenance tunnels were in a state of disrepair, and there was mould forming on the walls. And Grim heard water lapping nearby.

"Lovely." He grimaced, and lit one energy scythe. The blade illuminated the corridor and allowed him to see what he was stepping in...he didn't like it one bit.

Grim had stopped at Outer Irk as a routine inspection while his father prepared a summit between local government leaders in response to this Dark Power that had been popping up in isolated regions of space. The Frigians were relocated successfully, but somebody had tried to intercept the transport fleet...

During which a beacon had been remotely activated from Outer Irk. So the inspection became a man hunt, and Grim had followed a lead that something-most likely not Irken had gone down into the tunnels. Not wishing to waste time, Grim had pursued it down under Outer Irk.

As the hatch shut above him, Grim's mask activated, filtering the toxic air into breathable oxygen. He took a turn and hissed as he accidently stepped into a deep puddle. The floor had broken under one foot and momentarily his foot was in the water that had gathered under the metal grate. Luckily his foot was protected by the EVA armour he wore.

"Echtuta," He grunted.

Then he noticed something lying ahead of him. He cautiously approached and knelt. It was a Veniran...a mutated one that had been uplifted from Venira during the centuries of mutations that had overtaken the survivors not enslaved by the Irkens. It was a hideous shadow of Credaran, who was crowned the new king of the Veniran Empire after Zim restored their freedom. And it looked like it had been sliced in half at the waist, cauterizing the wound...

An energy blade, not unlike his scythes.

Somebody had paid a visit to this poor beast, and not too long ago judging from the lack of decomposition. Venirans decompose especially fast compared to other species; within hours of death...this was probably less than an hour old. The colour had not left its scales yet.

Grim stood up, drawing and activating his second scythe. He proceeded further into the maze.

Xxx

A Shadow slit the throat of the first soldier it encountered. A Vortian, it was all too glad to kill it. Next was a pair of traitor Irkens who served Shay. They died quickly, heads cut off with a single stroke of a blade that came out of nowhere.

The Shadow stood in the center of a room that had partially collapsed, revealing a cavern connected to the underground part of the Irken Base. She looked at the ropes attached to the edges and saw them lead down to where several inflatable life rafts had been sitting minutes ago.

She was too late, but she had time to correct her mistake.

Grasping one rope, she slid down to a length of land lining the underground river the rafts had followed. She also found two guards sleeping around a pile of wrappers. She glared at the slothful fools and activated her plasma sword.

After it hissed to life, they had no time to even awaken before she did away with them.

Taking one of their spare rafts, she inflated it by pulling the handle and set it to float down the river. Using her PAK legs to keep away from the walls and risk popping the raft, the Shadow waited until she spotted the other rafts, moored and abandoned on a shore.

She set her own raft ashore and got out. Looking around, she grasped the handle of her plasma sword, not activating it yet as she moved through the cavern.

"..._careful while removing the containment..."_

She knelt, activating her Stealth Generator. It was more useful and advanced than the modern ones...three and a half centuries more advanced to be precise. She crept through a tunnel and came into what looked like a makeshift lab with cables running up through the rocks...perhaps connecting to the base above, siphoning off power.

Several soldiers stood guard while three more were trying to move a large tube. It had a glass window that was fogged up, blurring out the image of the occupant.

"Perfect." A familiar voice said as an incredibly tall, red eyed Irken strolled into view. He was clad in black entirely, but had no armour. "Subject Zero is still intact where I left her."

The Shadow's green eyes widened as she recognized the Irken: Eder! A former technician who grew tall enough to advance in society until he was a science advisor to Miyuki. He had assisted her and Splorchamheimer on the infamous Project Renaissance many Irken women were hoping to participate in soon. What was he doing here? What had he left here?

"So zis ees eet?" A rather oddly accented voice asked as a figure strolled into view. It had the legs of a Vortian, but they ended in the feet of an Irken, and the horns on its head were thinner, longer, and t had the big, bug like eyes of an Irken...

A Vortken!

But only Skullene had one of those abominable hybrids! How was there one here? Skullene and Paneece were the only fertile female Irkens in existence at the moment...but f Eder had been running around with Renaissance Data for centuries, maybe he had given it out from time to time.

There was time for that later. This Vortken was dressed in a pair of dark blue pants and a matching dark blue shirt that was sleeveless and hang loosely from his frame. He also wore a flowing black coat and leather gloves. He had some sort of weapon attached to his belt that the Shadow could not describe from where she sat.

"Yes," Eder nodded. "Subject Zero," He wiped away part of the fog on the glass. "Originally it was a mere clone for Red's pathetic attempts at creating his 'perfect assassin'. He thought to mix the DNA of some of the best Invaders with his own and pray it worked...I perfected it."

"So zen zees thing ees a clone, no?" The Vortken asked.

"It is, but it is beyond even the original." Eder sounded proud.

The Shadow moved closer and peeked in on the clone's face...and then she ran as fast as she could without causing noise. She knelt by the entrance of the tunnel, one hand over her mouth.

Jana, formerly the Shadow of Tallest Zim-a Tallest Zim from another, long lost time line actually had a streak of bad luck ever since she had tried to ensure her master's rule. In trying to ensure his rise as Tallest, she had instead ensured that she would never exist. It had been because she had changed her method at the last second. Instead of helping Zim directly, she tried to arrange for the empire to be weak enough for him to conquer...but then that cursed Lok defeated her on Zedia, and she had to trash her plans.

By the time she was ready and recovered thanks to Skullene, it was too late. Skullene ended up on 'Kill Zim' with her lord and master, who fell for some purple eyed wannabe Invader who had tried to kill him multiples times! Ever since then, Jana had ended up being tossed from the Central Time Stream because her probability of existence had decreased dramatically.

Time did not work like in films. If Jana killed her younger self, she herself would still exist, but in an alternate time line that is so far off from the 'Central' Time line that she could never travel through time again. Because she was not supposed to exist, that time line was not supposed to happen, therefore it was isolated, a paradox. That was where she was now, in an alternate time line where her Tallest ruled together with other races, and Jana was nothing. It was all because the probability of herself existing in Zim's empire three centuries from now was so low that she was stranded until the paradox in this time line faded, an even then she would only be able to create more alternate time lines based off of this, never going forward in time to the empire she loves so.

Every time she thought about it, she wanted to cry. But she stayed, to make sure Zim would still rule, even if it was over such a dismal species now. She loved him too much to betray him, so she would remain true and loyal. She had to, for Zim.

But this was a twist she never saw coming...

A clone of Skullene, the woman who had saved her life.

Red had been so desperate to possess Skullene he had her cloned.

Xxx

"Well, your blood tests are the only odd thing." Loe said as he slid a small glass slide under a projector. "It's got a substance just like the Dark Shard stuck to the cells. Like a parasite...but it's not growing, it seems dormant for lack of a better term."

"And waiting for Lok to use it again." Darth uttered the terrible truth. "It gave hm powers like Grash's, it shall do so again when he unlocks them."

"So what do I do?" Lok asked. "I can't go around with this stuff in me! It's been messing with my head since I woke up!"

"Well boss...you might want to get some therapy." Loe said. "Luckily I know a guy."

"Who?"

"Step into Dr Nick's office!" Nick grabbed Lok by the collar of his coat and tugged him out of the medical room and slammed the door shut.

"But this is a broom closet!"

"Irrelevant. Now tell me, how long have you been frustrated over people mispronouncing your name?"

"Depends how long it'll take to use your thick head to break down this door if you don't let me out!" Lok banged on the closet door.

Xxx

End of chapter


	5. Chapter 5

A Dark Power

This includes OCs owned by Zim'sMostLoyalServant, ngrey651, zombiefear101, and BloddyrosePettles.

The Skullene Clone is actually a plot device from an Invader Zim role play Bloddy and I have going on. You'll meet a few OCs of his in this. And you'll learn a few facts about Lok.

Also Zombie, tell your friend I appreciate the OCs and I will try to introduce them in this chapter if I have room.

And I realized I accidently called the 67th fleet the 64th...well we all know how I mess up on some small things so...bleh.

I own nothing!

Xxx

**Episode Four: The Shadow, the Reaper, and the Carlos**

Grim examined the bodies. They definitely had become the latest victims of the sword wielding stalker who prowled the tunnels. Several other bodies had been killed through varying methods. One had what looked like miniature chakram launched into their head; another had a long spear going through him. Only once or twice did he find bodies killed by weapon's fire, and the weapons that had done the deed lay feet away from the owners they were turned on.

He slid down one of the ropes that lead into a cavern part of the tunnels extended through. He looked around the makeshift camp, and searched the bodies of the two guards that lay on their bed rolls. On one, he found a radio.

He activated it and listened in, hooking it up to his PAK's Comm. Unit. He scanned a PAK attached to one dead guard-an Irken. He found nothing useful, obviously his personal memories were wiped, but Grim found a pair of codes in his tactical memory storage:

Skevan: All Clear and Skavon: Danger.

He would have to ponder what these were for later. Aside from those memories he absorbed some minor personality fragments as RAM so he could pull off faking his identity as the deceased Irken.

"_Kshhhhhhh-...ving to rendezvous, please respond. Repeat base camp this is Alpha Team, we have retrieved the target and are moving to rendezvous, please respond."_

So, whoever was here had been searching for something, but what? He momentarily adjusted his voice using a device from his PAK to modify the tone and pitch of his voice. He spoke the way the dead Irken used to. "Alpha, this is Base Camp, Skevan, no signs that we've been followed."

"_Excellent, keep watch for anymore radio interference." _The voice replied. _"We'll load up and meet up with you in- what? Hey! Freeze!"_

For several seconds Grim heard mixed chatter.

_TSSSS!_

"_What the-vrik na-GWAUGH!"_

There was a sickening, wet sound of flesh and organs ripping, and then plasma fire in the back ground.

"_What is that?_"

"_FIRE!"_

"_Form up! Form up!"_

"_Covering fire!"_

"_Take it down!"_

Ksssshhhhhh!-!-!-!-!-!

Grim tossed the radio aside. "Well, at least I know my swordsman friend isn't with them."

He looked to the river. "...screw that!" He activated his PAK's newer upgrades, compliments of his father Zim and several highly talented Vortian and Veniran scientists. "Booster Pack!" He shot into the air and down the cavern, angling the engines built into his PAK to avoid crashing into the walls. At this speed he was moving ten times as fast as those who had used the rafts he flew over. He landed on a shore, moving into a crouch and drawing one scythe. The small peninsula he had landed on was abandoned.

Deactivating his scythe, he kept it in hand and moved towards the tunnel where he heard weapons fire and explosions coming from.

Whatever was happening, it was big.

Xxx

Jana would have thought she'd be the one doing the slaughtering. But as she had only been preparing herself to attack, several hatches in the roof had opened, and large shapes dropped out of them.

Just as they came out, two guards who had walked by Jana's hidden position returned. One stopped speaking into his radio and raised his gun. "What-hey! Freeze!"

"What are they?" The second soldier shouted, raising his rifle.

"Security drones!" Eder frowned as the bipedal robots stood up.

"Are zey a problem?" The Vortken asked, slowly drawing his weapon from his belt.

"Oh you have no idea just how bad they can be," Eder said. "I made them myself, and sadly I think their defensive protocols had a habit of becoming corrupted due to an error that caused their FOF ID systems to shut down after several years. I fixed it...but I think these are some of the older models."

"Again, are they a real problem?" A female Irken asked.

She had lovely purple eyes and antennae that curled near her thighs. She was not dressed in pitch black battle armour like the soldiers Eder had with him, but in more colourful and stylish clothes. Knee high boots that hugged her calves, loose baggy pants tucked into them, a loose, casual, green tunic that matched her skin shade, and fingerless gloves. Under the flowing sleeves of her tunic, she had bandages around her arms from her wrists to her elbows, and over them was something else...something her tunic hid.

"Usually no," Eder muttered as the drones looked at them.

"Usually?" Captain Vanderlu, the team's hired survival guide and pilot glanced at him.

"If you have fifty feet between yourself and them instead of ten." Eder stated before the drones' eyes turned bright red.

"**Hostiles detected! Neutralize!" **One drone declared.

"Well...bugger." Eder sighed...and then quickly he drew a pistol and shot the drone through the face as it lunged at him.

Another drone held up its right arm...and a device extended out of the forearm. With a hiss, an energy blade like Jana's shot to life.

"What the-vrik na-!" One of Lord shay's soldiers raised his gun, but his arms were cut off. "GWAUGH-!" His head went next.

The other soldiers engaged, shouting as several drones fell under their fire. Usually a good five or six shots took them down permanently, but if a soldier wasn't careful they could get back up and hit them when they weren't looking. Eder looked to Vanderlu and the Vortken, who stood with the four troopers who were moving the pod.

"Clear a path out!" Eder shouted before a knife practically materialized in his hands from his coat and he decapitated one drone as it reared one clawed arm back. Each drone hopped around, cutting at the soldiers when they had the chance. For the most part, the experienced troops managed to take three or four down for every soldier that lost.

But there were fewer soldiers with each passing second Vanderlu sneered as one drone landed in front of her and prepared to impale her on its blade, but she almost casually flicked her hand, a small plasma cutter activating. The cutting tool easily cut the drone's arm off and then melted through its chest area. It collapsed, and Vanderlu flung the cutter through the air, landing it into another drone's eye and saving the life of one of the last eight soldiers holding off the drones behind the pod as it was moved out of the room.

The Vortken's weapon activated. It attached to a gauntlet on his right arm and extended a small component out. Three curved blades of energy shot out from this and began to spun, forming a large energy version of a chain saw. He cut through a drone like it was butter, and then he caught the next drone's energy blade on his spinning weapon, which was rotating several hundred times a minute. He pushed it back and jabbed at its chest, cutting through some cords off to the right side of its chest cavity. The oil ignited and part of the drone was blown apart, sending what was left of it flying.

The Vortken had moved so fast he had not been even scratched by the explosion, leaping back and landing next to Vanderlu, who twirled a pistol in her right hand before she shot one drone through the head.

"I am upping my price for this!" Vanderlu snapped before a drone landed between them.

She spun, but it grasped her by the neck and tossed her into the wall. She gagged as her throat was slowly crushed until she managed to slip her pistol between a gap in the armoured plating of the drone and fired three times. It went limp, and she shoved the unmoving metal body off of her.

"Thanks for the help, _skaatel._" She muttered bitterly.

The Vortken sent her a menacing look. "Call me that again, _pendica._"

Vanderlu hissed at the Irken designated racial slur-which meant 'bug' in common language. "I'll rip those horns off and shove them up your ass you-!"

"_Enough!_" Eder fired a shot between them and blew apart a drone that was close to ripping them apart. _"We have to get out of here!"_

But as Eder turned to follow his troops carrying the slumbering clone, a single blade of light illuminated the area in front of him as Jana revealed herself.

Eder growled. "You again."

He recognized Jana, who had briefly agreed to a mutual alliance between them and the Resisty-something ruined by Hunter Lok obviously. After she had supposedly died he forgot about her, but now here she was, in his way.

"Handle her." Eder commanded his two Lieutenants.

"With pleasure." Vanderlu growled as she and the Vortken moved to confront Jana. The remaining soldiers fled from the cavern with Eder.

Xxx

**Earth**

"Behold, we come bearing a big green bug!" Carlos declared as he opened the door to Dib's house.

"I thought we were friends!" Skoodge whined as Carlos held him by the antennae.

"We are, people just can't know I'm soft." Carlos said. "Do you know how people would react if they knew I wasn't chasing Kurt up and down the city screaming that I'll kill him in the bloodiest, most disgusting fashion possible?"

Kurt agreed with Carlos.

"Finally!" Db said-his ass still stuck to the ceiling.

"Alright they told me what's wrong," Skoodge said as he was set down on his feet. "Let's get to work so I can go home."

"Ok-uh oh." Dib said as he shifted. "Uh...I might have been wrong when I guessed I'd be permanently stuck like this, turns out I didn't need Skoodge after all-oh no!" He began to wiggle. "Somebody get something soft for me to land on-AH!" He fell...and Carlos stuck Skoodge under the big headed boy...who hit Skoodge right in the gut with his HUGE head. Skoodge and Dib screamed in pain as they collided and rolled away from each other.

"Gaz, does this happen to your brother every day?" Carlos asked, ignoring the two screaming victims.

Gaz shrugged. "Pretty much."

"I thought after all that fun and excitement on the Gladiator Planet he'd have learned to take better care of himself." Carlos said. "...how'd you get stuck up there again?"

"Uh...tried enhancing my powers with ectoplasm to go through walls." Dib said.

"...that's made from _ghosts!"_ Carlos said. "And my brother tried that after Kurt accidently broke his model rocket and he chased him up and down our house...it did NOT work well."

"The point of it being from ghosts was why I tried to use it!" Dib said.

"Oh Dib, ectoplasm and living tissue do not react well together, they're too opposite things!" Carlos said.

"Oh yeah? How do you know Kurt doesn't have that seeing as how nobody bothered to explain his powers!" Dib said.

"Dib, Dib, Dib," Carlos shook his head. "...uh strangely enough I don't have a reply to that...Kurt ,how did you get your powers anyways?"

Kurt began to explain...in sign language yet again.

"...no way! You mean your mom was...?" Kurt nodded. "How did your dad survive that?" The signs! "She was bored and he was some devilishly handsome guy...strangely that's how my parents met, only my mom succumbed to the madness." El sign. "So what happened after that?" Sign. "No way!" Sign. "You're kidding me!" Sign. "An entire _galaxy_ got sucked in after it was over? No wonder I haven't gotten any luck with killing you! Even my dad is scared of..._her._"

"Who's _her?_" Skoodge asked.

"The one being who's power and cunning is able to outwit the madness that was my dad ,the one who not only stole untold riches from countless civilizations ,but entire planets, galaxies...and universes." Carlos shuddered. "My dad had a fan boy crush on her because of what she did, sadly enough he did not take rejection too well and uh...tried to take revenge she nearly tore him apart...by placing a black hole...in his _stomach!_ Right by his arm control nerve!"

"...so who is she?" Dib asked.

"No one knows her name...but I'm pretty sure if you google her on the Alien Net Work you set up, try...The Queen of Andromeda." Carlos said...dramatically.

"...Kurt's mom is the queen of the Andromeda Galaxy?" Dib asked.

"Yeah, she stole the whole thing and put it right next door to this one!" Carlos nodded. "And it keeps getting bigger with all the other ones she steals!"

"...you're telling me that Kurt's mom steals a lot of smaller galaxies and put them together to make the Andromeda Galaxy?"

"Why do you think it's as close as it is? Otherwise you'd be seeing it as a tiny dot."

"It takes centuries to get there, even for Irkens!"

"Not for Kurt's mother, and if I know her she's still working on adding more galaxies...I hear she left this one alone because she likes the resorts." Carlos said.

"Does she ever visit this planet Kurt?" Dib looked at Kurt.

Signs!

"Cool," Dib smiled. "No wonder you always kick Carlos' butt."

"Comrade Big Head, I take major offence to that!" Carlos pointed.

"Oh come on! You say yourself how bad ass Kurt's mom is!"

"Yes, I respect her for that, but that does not give you the right to mock me!" Carlos declared.

"So what would she be doing now?" Skoodge asked.

Kurt made more signs.

"You're kidding!" Dib gasped.

Kurt shook his head and made signs.

"So right now she's..."

Kurt nodded.

"And she is gonna..."

Kurt nodded again.

"Does she ever permit visitors? Cuz this could go great for my research!"

Kurt shrugged.

"He never asked." Carlos said. "Quite frankly I've been to busy trying to kill him, and quite frankly Kurt's mother is quite the Illusive little psycho. Who knows what she's doing?"

"Is she Carmen Santiago?" Gaz asked as she looked up.

"Probably," Carlos shrugged. "Pretty good chance. I shudder to think if she got bored and decided to find a sucker of a man who could fall for those charms. Beautiful eyes ,that hair, the-"

Slap!

Kurt glared at Carlos. "Sorry man, I got carried away." Kurt relaxed and nodded. "Ok anyways, she is real illusive, likes to steal galaxies, and she's dragging in three more next week."

"Hey Kurt, do you ever visit the Andromeda Galaxy?" Dib asked.

Kurt nodded.

"Do you think you could take me along next time?"

Signs.

"Why would she mind if I came along?"

Signs.

"What could I do?"

"Well she could make the black hole in your head bigger, and if she takes an interest in your planet, system, or galaxy and adds it to hers, then...well you might be stuck next to the Planet of Giant Brain Drinking Rhinos." Carlos explained. "I went there once, a life changing experience."

"Why? Was your IQ higher and get significantly lower?" Skoodge asked dumbly.

"Nope, got bigger dude! I beat them at their own game!" Carlos declared. "Zombies eat your heart out cuz I am the best at eating brains!" The entire group stared at him.

"...ok I'm done," Dib sighed. "I'm gonna work on that teleporter Zim left ,maybe it'll send me to Andromeda!"

"Just don't let Kurt's mom catch you!" Carlos called after Dib as he left. "If she catches you, she'll toss you into a pocket dimension that houses the true evil!"

Dib and Sophie paused and looked back at them. Sophie asked. "What's the true evil?"

"Kurt?" Carlos looked at Kurt.

Kurt sighed and said two words:

"True Evil."

THOOM!

A portal shot open and the Earth shook. Dib screamed as his head was slowly pulled through, his atoms being stretched to their limit. For several seconds his head was stuck in the universe with the true evil...and when Carlos tugged his head back out he was stuttering, pale faced and wide eyed. His teeth were chattering and he had a twitch to his eye.

"That bad, huh?" Carlos asked causally.

Dib collapsed.

"...medic." Carlos knelt. "Don't sweat it man, Kurt's mom did that to me when I blew up one of the resorts she stole." He shuddered. "Nails on a chalk board never sounded better."

"I never thought Justin Bieber mixed with Hannah Montanna, the Jonas Brothers, and half a dozen country romance songs could be so...so...EVIL!" Dib said.

"Don't forget Vogon poetry, they threw a few verses in there." Carlos pointed out. "But only very few survived friend...and when I say few, what I mean is us!" He cackled maniacally. "Mwahahaha-ha-ha-ha! EHAHAHAHA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!"

Xxx

**Outer Irk**

"Hurry up! Hurry up!" Eder barked. "This is our lucky break here!"

The soldiers were preparing to bring the clone out of the pod so that they could sedate it and carry it back with them. The clone was clad in a full body suit that was pitch black with red patterns on it. It also had a simple number code on its chest: 000.

"Alright..." The technician whispered as he accessed the controls. "...florp! She's reacting!"

In the pod, the clone began to writhe and gasp for breaths it could not get. It's eyes opened wide...but they were not the deep sapphire blue Skullene had: they were the ruby red shade that Red possessed. With the frost cleared from the pod, it was easy to see her skin was not as dark as Skullene's either; it was more of the average shade of green all Irkens had.

And right now she was dying.

"Kisgaree! Stabilize her, now!" Eder ordered.

As the soldiers worked ,a figure slowly moved out of the shadows of the tunnel.

"Alright...pulse is stable...she's good!" The tech said...before a scythe took his head off.

"Then that's my signal to step in." Grim announced, cutting down the other soldiers as they tried to lock onto him with their weapons.

Seconds later only Eder and Grim stood, separated by the pod. The open hatch let Grim get a good look at what looked eerily like his sister. He had listened in on their conversation...and was utterly _pissed_ that this _caragash_ had dared to clone his little sister. Part of him wanted to kill Eder, another wanted to kill the clone...but then it stuck one hand out of its pod.

It moaned lightly. "Help..." It sounded so weak.

It instantly reminded Grim of when Skullene had been sent to Painomania. She had come back broken and reduced to tears.

He turned his scythe from her to Eder, who stumbled back, drawing a small knife. Grim swung, but then a layer of energy covered the knife's blade and his scythe bounced off of it. Eder took this chance and leaped up, twisting at the hips first, and then swinging his legs in a clockwise rotation so that his left foot hit Grim in the side of the head, spinning him around and making him drop his scythe.

As soon as Eder landed with his back to Grim he spun, knife arm reared back to cut Grim's throat open. Grim swatted the knife hand aside with his right hand and grasped the wrist, tugging Eder closer and planting his free fist into the taller Irken's face. Eder's knee knocked the breath out of Grim, the strength of the blow seemingly ignoring his armour. Eder grasped the stunned Prince's head and swung him into the cave wall. Retrieving his knife, Eder looked to the clone and then to Grim.

He started for the clone, but something cut into his side. He grunted and twisted, flinging his knife at the source of the attack.

It was Jana, who had outwitted her two opponents in the lab-cave and had pursued Eder.

Vanderlu and the Vortken were still alive however, and gaining on her. She had activated a device attached to her wrist that launched a single blade through the air. She had reacted when she saw Eder making his way towards the clone's pod.

She brought up her hand ,and let the metal device on her wrist deflect the knife before she pulled back on the mechanism and loaded a new projectile. Firing again, this one hit Eder in the left thigh.

Groaning in pain, he pulled out a Plasma Grenade and tossed it before he rushed for the water. Jana cursed and did a back flip through the air as the grenade exploded. It caused her to fly into a cave wall, and she hit the ground next to Grim.

Coughing, Grim got up. "Who are you?"

"A mutual ally, let us leave it at that," Jana got up, one hand nursing her side where a bit of rock stuck through her suit. Jerking the fragment out, she tossed it aside and injected herself with Medical Foam, whimpering a bit as a burning pain came from the wound as it was filled up. She looked to where the clone fell out of its pod. "That clone...it is your sister."

"I realized that," Grim grunted, searching the area for Eder. "Damn it, he escaped!"

Jana took a moment to look over Grimrair ,the second son of Splorchamheimer...the second son of _Zim._ Jana had heard that Splorchamheimer and Miyuki had children illegally, the information had become available after Zim took over. Female Irkens petitioned to be given the same procedure as Miyuki so they could bear children with their own mates. Jana had considered it...but then again the only Irken she loved had a mate and _five_ children.

Now that she looked at Grim, she noticed similarities between him and Tallest Zim. His red eye would narrow in a more angular and sharper way than the blue one, which looked softer and warmer. He possessed the calculating, lethal air her Tallest did, and his build was even similar to Zim, he was merely a little shorter.

Thinking about it made her miss her old Tallest Zim better, she had essentially betrayed him, causing his downfall so a Tallest Zim who tolerated the existence of lesser beings would take his place. She was torn between treasonous thoughts and loyalty each time the topic came up.

Now she stood before one of his children, practically a demi-god in her eyes. Technically it was two of Zim's children, as the clone was made from his eldest daughter.

Jana found herself kneeling next to the clone, who had curled up on the ground, shivering.

"What is wrong with her?" Jana glanced at Grim, who had given up searching for Eder.

"I'll check." He gently placed a hand on the clone's shoulder, and she screamed and knocked him on his back with a backhanded swing.

"You!" Grim glared at Jana. "If you really are my ally, then hold her down!"

Jana obeyed more out of instinct towards a Taller Irken of the Empire. She grasped the clone and pinned it to the floor on its stomach. It kicked and wailed, but Jana sat on its thighs and tugged its arms back. It was no sobbing like a little child, and went limp in Jana's grasp as Grim connected his PAK to the one on its back.

"...by the gods, of all the memories." Grim shook his head as he looked through her memory core. "The memories this clone has were uploaded from right before she escaped Painomania...when Admiral Rizz raped her."

Jana had been disgusted when Skullene told her the story before, but to be reminded of it and knowing it had been done to a Princess of the empire enraged Jana. She only had the satisfaction of knowing Skullene killed the disgusting vermin Rizz in vengeance. "Disgusting."

"We have to get her out of here." Grim produced a syringe from his PAK and filled it from a bottle he took from an armour compartment. He slid it into the clone's neck, and she cried out until he sedated her. Removing the syringe, he picked her up into his arms after gesturing for Jana to remove herself. "After that, you and I have to talk."

"...as you wish, Prince Grimrair-"

Jana paused as the cave began to shake.

"...the grenade triggered a seismic event, didn't it?" Jana sighed, exasperated.

"Most likely," Grim shrugged with his eyes wide.

"Bring it on." Jana slumped, and the cave system began to shift as parts of the Earth collapsed overhead.

Xxx

**Lebinine II**

BOOM!

CH-CHNK!

"Reloaded!" One operator of FLBM-2 reported.

"Fire!" The commander barked.

Another shell launched.

BOOM! It destroyed a platoon of Tantax's soldiers.

"Sir, enemy FLBM is in range!"

"Lock main guns!"

A pair of massive cannons extended over the mech's shoulders and lowered themselves into position. They began to charge up as the enemy FLBM tried to activate its own cannons...and received a pair of holes through it for its troubles. It collapsed.

In the chaos, Tibix and E raced across the chaotic main plaza as millions of Lebinians for miles around tried to escape the carnage. The three Irken Mechs tried to avoid the civilians as best as possible, but it was hard to do so.

Meanwhile, inside the senate building, three Irkens clashed.

Arnor swatted aside a sword that Tantax had grabbed from a fallen soldier. He then swung his elbow up and slammed it into Tantax's skin. Tantax replied by headbuttng the Second Tallest in the face. As he moved to cut Arnor's throat, Tantax was intercepted by Envon, who had a knife in each hand and parried Tantax's attack. Tantax smirked and swung his head forward again. Envon raised his arms defensively, but Tantax stopped, and instead a telepathic wave shot out from his head and struck Envon, knocking him into Arnor and halfway across the room.

The two groaned as they stood up.

"Well this isn't good." Envon groaned.

"Tell me about it," Arnor grunted.

Xxx

**Irk system, outer rim**

The pod appeared in real time and space. The occupant was a muscular Irken, not like Sizz-Lor, but he was well built, and almost as tall as Grimrair or Envon. His eyes were plain red, and he wore a ragged uniform consisting of a gray shirt and matching pants...it was a prison uniform marked 006.

'Six' was the only name he remembered after months of confinement. Not too long before Zim ascended to the throne, he had escaped, desperate to see the sun again...

And had floated through space in a damaged escape pod for two long years, mostly spending it in hibernation and awakening to input new FTL coordinates for the monthly jumps the pod could make when it recharged by absorbing solar energy from nearby suns. Finally...he was back home.

Six smiled as he saw Irk's sun, a dot in the distance still, but he knew where it was.

But he was focused on Outer Irk. It was there that his Tallest had betrayed him for discovering a secret. It was there that his life as an Elite Guard had ended. He had loyally served as Tallest Purple's personal guard for decades...and it all ended with a mere moment...

When he saw her, that girl Red obsessed over. She had been lying in a tank, asleep...but it was not her, was it? Red had been speaking with Eder, and Purple stood by Six. Red glanced over at Six and frowned.

He had said it was a mistake to bring Six, now the memory of the event was buried in his PAK memory. He was a loose end, if anybody knew what the Tallest and Eder were doing...

So they stripped him of everything right on the spot, and locked him on Vort so nobody would ever believe his words. Months of abuse, built up anger...and then Six killed a dozen guards and escaped.

What he wanted most was to see her again, that mysterious look-alike, the clone again.

He knew where she was...he just didn't know what he wanted to do.

Did he want to kill her for ruining his life?

Even Six didn't know...but then again he didn't know his own name anymore, so that was no big surprise.

He just had another hour until he hit Outer Irk, and then he would find her again, that woman Red obsessed over so much.

Xxx

End of chapter

Six is property of bloddyrosepettles, and he and the clone play a role of their own like everybody else.

Don't worry, I'll try to introduce as many OCs as I can, for now I won't be bringing any more in for the next few chapters aside from one special one by Zim'sMostLoyalServant and one by BloddyRosePettles.


	6. Chapter 6

A Dark Power

OCs in this are property of Zim'sMostLoyalServant, ngrey651, zombiefear101, and BloddyRosePettles.

Invader Zim is property of Jhonen Vasquez.

I own nothing.

Warning, this is a really...dark chapter. You'll be wondering 'what the hell, what about Six and Zero? And Lok and the others?' Well don't worry. All other plot lines will be continued after this ark ends. It may take two or three chapters...and you'll see just how I'll make the story live on just when you think it's over.

This is to show you just how bad the enemies in this truly are.

Xxx

**Episode Five: The Truth of Consequence, Part 1**

Darkness...silence...a void...

A single light appeared, blinking on and off. Then it was replaced by letters.

**Repairs completed, Irken Grimrair stabilized.**

His eyes peeled open, and he was staring at a single light source, swinging back and forth slowly across his line of sight. He inhaled, gasping as some dust was caught up in the flow of oxygen. He coughed it up and bolted into a sitting position. He was clad in just a pair of shorts, but he saw his dented armour and roughed up clothing arranged on a table to his right, along with his scythes and other weapons. The room he was in was a standard Irken Med-Bay, and judging from the size of it he was on a Viral Tank or a Levask. But it was in a state of disrepair.

A door slid open. "You're awake!"

"S...skulls?" Grim's eyes narrowed a bit as he heard the familiar voice of his sister. A moment later he was caught in a hug as he tried to adjust to the light coming from the door. He blinked and gently returned his sister's affection.

"Son,"

That made Grim freeze on the spot. He slowly looked up again and saw a tall figure standing in the door way. Standing now at over eight feet, Tallest Zim displayed powerful muscles and a fierce aura, clad in his black and gold armour. He smiled warmly and joined his two children, embracing them.

"At last, Grim," Zim whispered. "We thought you would never wake up."

"How...how long have I been asleep?" Grim asked, confused by the actions of his family. "Where are we? This isn't Outer Irk."

"I'm sorry my prince," A new voice, familiar and female stated as that black clad assassin from the caves strolled into view. Her cloak was gone, and she had a sort of vest on over her upper body. It was black and red and had metallic devices embedded into the material. She crossed her arms, looking glum. "But our union at Outer Irk was three months ago."

"Three months?" Grim shot up off of the bed. "The clone! Eder-!"

"The clone was killed when the cave collapsed," Jana shook her head. "Eder escaped...and made a new one, using more advanced technology so that instead of three years, it took him three weeks to engineer a dozen."

A dozen clones of Skullene? Each with her memory?

"Father," Grim slowly began to comprehend just why they were in a rundown medical bay instead of an Irken Hospital. "What has happened while I was asleep?"

Zim's smile vanished, and his bright red eyes dulled. "I'm sorry Grim...we lost. Lord Shay's armies have invaded the galaxy as of twenty two days ago...and Irk fell two days into the invasion."

"What?" Irk? Fallen? In two mere days? "But how-?"

"Your brother Envon led a valiant defence." Zim sat down. "And Hellion, Paneece...your mother, myself, and many others helped...but they were too much, especially with their general leading them." He growled. "A general I should have killed a long time ago!"

"Father! Please! What has happened? Where is mother? Where is everybody else?" Grim asked, gripping his father's shoulders.

Zim began to shake. "They-" He choked on the next words. "They're _dead!_"

Dead? DEAD? Dead...

"Dead?" Grim repeated the word, barely whispering. "No. No! No-no-no-no-no!"

"Your sister Skullene, the assassin Jana, Arnor, Gor, Credaran, Chancellor Darth, his body guards, and several hundred others have taken refuge here." Zim stated. "The Veniran Navy has sent ships to rescue us...we are on Outer Irk at the moment. This ship crashed as the 67th Fleet fell trying to protect the system."

The 67th Fleet, mightier than the Main Armada, defeated in combat? And in such a short time? This was all impossible! Grim could not believe what he was hearing!

"How?" The words came out.

"Lok," The answer was simple...yet incomprehensible to Grim as he tried to process the one word explanation he was given.

"Lok?" Lok the Hunter? Lok the head of Lok-On-Kontracts? A loyal Irken-despite being somewhat of an annoyance at times? "Lok...caused this?"

"At first we were winning." Jana stated, moving closer. "But then Eder, the traitors Admiral Sket, General Tantax, and their best warriors landed only a hundred miles from here. Lok pursued them with Envon, the Vortian Shen Baron, Princess-Senator Paneece, Commander Tibix, and Hellion. They fought...and they found a Dark Shard."

The Dark Shard...he had managed to glimpse mere reports of it on his way to Outer Irk. He had thought nothing of them, planning to look into them after he had finished his assignment.

And then they told him precisely what they were.

"The Dark Shards are fragments," Zim explained. "Pieces of an entity beyond any evolutionary scale we could comprehend, made of pure energy yet able to take other forms. It is the Dark Power, a single mind that has travelled from galaxy to galaxy, doing what it is doing now: indoctrinating and consuming. Those who serve it live on and build for it until it reaches a new galaxy and calls to them across space and time. They come as the Dark Power spreads itself out, releasing its Shards onto planets, and then hundreds of years after the call has been sent, the hordes of the Dark Power's Prophet: Lord Shay descend for war."

"Lord Shay...he is older than the Irken Empire...a member of a race from a galaxy so distant it would take millions of years of travel to even come within a glimpse of it. He is powerful, and has consumed the gifts of many Dark Shards. Each Shard grants those who master it a measure of power, but to do so they must kill while possessing it, so that the Shard itself will return to the Dark Power...with the energy of an entire soul that the user has absorbed. A small piece of the Shard always remains, buried inside the user, and playing on their thoughts and feelings, their insecurities, their lust, their _everything._" Zim said. "From what I have learned of these Shards, should you master control of it completely, it can be used for great purposes...but if you fall to it, you are considered one of the Dark Power's greatest holy warriors, the general of the Dark Power's crusading horde."

"...and Lok fell to it after he took in a second Shard."

Xxx

_Eder gasped as he looked down at the blade that stuck out of his torso. He then managed to glimpse up at the Irken who took his life a moment later by ripping the plasma sword up through his head in a shower of blood. The nearby fighters paused and glanced at Lok, who was bathed in the purple blood of his foe. Lok slowly turned._

_Hs coat was pitch black again, and his eyes matched it. He looked at his blood stained hands, and then at the plasma sword in his right palm. He then opened his mouth and roared to the sky, letting the Dark Shard shoot out of his mouth in a stream of light that vanished into infinity beyond the clouds overhead. It passed tens of thousands of clashing ships and then to where ever the Dark Power rested._

_He collapsed to one knee, gasping for breath._

"_Lok! Are you alright?" Envon called, grappling with Tantax._

_Lok glanced up...his eyes still black as night. He smiled coldly. "I'm perfectly fine...Admiral."_

_Then he drew his pistol and shot Envon clean through the side of his head before the stunned Irken could react. For a moment there was a horrified silence on the battle field, and then Tibix shouted. "You traitor! You MURDERER!"_

_He started forward, but Lok flicked his wrist, and an arch of energy shot out of his hand. The arch was parallel to the ground and grew wider as it shot out at the speed of light, going from a mere particle to several feet long before it struck Tibix...and cut through him like a blade._

_Lok laughed, entertained as Tibix fell, his still standing lower body spraying out more blood._

"_Lok! What have you done?" Paneece screamed._

_Shen landed a quick punch across Lok's face. "I don't know what the florp is wrong with you, but you will not live for this betrayal-urk!"_

_Lok was staring up from where the blow had left him on the ground. Shen stared back with wide, unbelieving eyes as a stinger tipped tail that had travelled between his feet came out through his chest. He died drowning in his own flow of blood._

_Lok stood, the tail tossing the dead Vortian away. He had three similar ones coming from his back...where his PAK was now hanging in mere fragments, but he did not seem phased by this. He licked some blood off of his arm and grinned..._

_And he killed his friends and allies, one by one, until only he and his enemies were left. But they bowed to him instead._

"_You are truly one of the Dark," A new voice announced, coming from all around. "Irken Lok, you have killed my latest General. Eder's loss is considerable...but the benefits of his replacement much greater."_

"_Lord Shay..." Lok whispered._

"_Yes my child," The spectral entity that watched Lok would have smiled if it had form. "I am Lord shay, Prophet of the Dark Power...and you...are my General."_

"_General Lok..." Lok sounded considerate._

"_The Dark Shards have truly brought out your better half." Shay praised him. "Now use it, and carve your name into this history of this galaxy, continue on into eternity and repeat it again and again until the Dark takes us both."_

_Lok's mouth slowly curled into a grin, revealing large, razor sharp teeth worthy of a dragon, and a dual tipped, pitch black tongue. "I will gladly serve the Dark..." He then bowed to him on one knee. "My lord, my master...your holiness."_

Xxx

"The Dark Shard turned him to follow the Dark Power," Zim concluded. "With Lok commanding the invasion fleet and the armies it deployed, Irk fell quickly. The Venirans, Vortians, and Meekroobians are holding their ground while the Aenorans, the Orginians, and several small powers are preparing for war...but I fear that the Dark Shards that Lok has absorbed since then will be too much."

Skullene had turned away, trying to hide the tears that were falling from her eyes. She bowed her head, and let out a choked sob as she thought of her deceased mate.

"There must be a way!" Grim said desperately. "Nothing is invincible!"

"And indeed, you are right," A voice that sent a touch of rage up Grim's spine spoke up. Grim grabbed one of his scythes before he knew what he was doing and activated it, but Zim held him back from attacking former General Grash, who stood behind Jana.

"You! Traitor! Kisgaree shoo-shen!" Grim snarled.

"No my prince!" Jana held him back next. "The scum has his uses...for now."

"He told us everything there is to know of the Dark Power." Zim said.

"And I'm the one who told you the benefits of not giving a crap what some ancient florped up version of a Meekroobian from halfway across the known universe offers." Grash sneered. "I got it's shard a month after that 'Kill Zim' incident. I spent time researching it, going slow...my natural mental stability and psychological training contributed to this, and soon I used the link between myself and the Dark Power to glimpse what I could. When I saw what it would do, I decided I'd take advantage of the coming war...but I had planned for Irk to repel the invaders at first, just allowing me to finish Zim off."

"We can discuss that little idea of yours after this is dealt with." Zim glared at Grash. "Now continue!"

"I searched for more Dark Shards, but had no luck. The Dark Power had them go into a dormant state when I neared them, not allowing me to find them. But then...one was activated by Lok. I tried to kill him and take it, but a foolish zealot of the Dark Power let Lok slay her, allowing him to fight against me with his own powers. And now the Dark Power is letting him absorb as many as possible, doubling his power with each one. By now his power may be ten times that of mine."

"..." Grim dropped his scythe. "Then all is truly lost then."

"No!" Jana grabbed Grim by the shoulders. "You are Prince Grimrair! You are the eldest child of Tallest Zim! You do not surrender or give up! DO YOU HEAR ME?"

Stunned, Grim stared at her. "...why do you care so much?"

"Because I have literally given my existence for Zim!" Jana snarled. "I have come from a time line where Zim would have ruled for three and a half centuries, squashing out all opposing powers and expanding the empire to all corners of the galaxy! This Dark Power never would have stepped near this galaxy under those circumstances!"

"Wait...alternate time line...you...travelled through-" Grim started.

"She already explained it to me...and I must admit the way she portrayed me is most like what I used to be." Zim interjected. "In this alternate time line, I conquered Earth, but Red and Purple became unfortunate victims of rebellion, allowing me to take over. After killing Arnor, I consolidated my power...but of course Dib-being the one who killed Red and Purple left quite an example to follow. This alternate empire was collapsing by the time my alternate self sent Jana back in time to prevent this fall."

"But instead...I caused a new empire to form." Jana sighed sadly. "I wiped out the prophecy of Zim, Tallest and conqueror of the Galaxy."

"And instead brought back Splorchamheimer, saviour of the Galaxy." Grim concluded, his tone emotionless and bland. "Why have you not returned to the future?"

"I am too far from the Main Time Stream; I do not have the power to return." Jana shook her head. "Time is not entirely linear as you think. If you go back in time and kill yourself, you will still exist, but you will be trapped in a paradox universe, which has been essentially bordered off so the paradox cannot spread, all but severed from the main time stream. I no longer exist in this time line, and so since the probability of my existence in the main time line is so low, I am trapped here, unable to time travel without...well...enough energy to burn entire galaxies."

She sat on a table. "After I was trapped, I made use of myself again...choosing to destroy Zim's enemies as they appeared. If I could not serve my Tallest, I would serve _a_ tallest worthy of it. And Zim is still the greatest leader I have ever seen."

"THEN WHY IS MY FAMILY DEAD!" Grim shouted, his emotional barrier collapsing. "Why is Irk conquered? Why is Lok helping these zealous murderers? Why-why..." The events and the shock of what he was told took its toll on him, and he collapsed to his knees. "Why...why are things like this?"

"My prince, not all hope is lost!" Jana encouraged Grim, pulling him to his feet. "There may yet be a way to set right this galaxy!"

"With a miracle? A prayer?" Grim scoffed. "Dad believes in Irken heaven, not me."

"Well you had best start believing my son," Zim firmly grasped Grimrair's arms. "Because with you awake...I set my plan for vengeance and retaliation in motion soon."

"With what? Even if we win...what will the point be? This galaxy will be burned by our battles." Grim said miserably.

"NO!" SLAP! Zim slapped Grim across the face. "Snap out of it Grim! This is not the boy I raised! SNAP OUT OF IT! Your mother cries out for revenge, your sister Paneece does so too! And Hellion, Envon, Tenn, Shen and Shellene-" The last name died in his mouth. "...they all were murdered Grim...will you let them go unavenged?"

They were dead ,what was the point...dead...all of them...Grim's siblings, who had had known for five centuries...Skullene's mate and...her child, her only child, taken from her when she had only found her happiness.

After Grim had finally found happiness in his family, this had happened. If only he had been awake! If he had been there to do something, he could have stopped Lok, he could have done anything to change the tide of battle.

His fists clenched, Grim let out the bottle up hatred pour out of him like lava from a volcano. He stood up. "...what is your plan?"

Xxx

Over Irk, thousands of Dark ships circled, celebrating their first true victory against the Irken Empire even after weeks of pathetic resistance from other species. They would fall within mere months, an idea the tens of millions of soldiers on the planet shared.

But on the largest ship, the flag ship, a single Irken glared down at the surface of his home planet, pondering. Lok was clad in more formal armour and cloth that matched his eyes, and his many weapons were gone except for the energy sword he had taken from Jana so long ago...and what looked like a small, robotic snake that was draped around his shoulders.

"You're still not happy."

"I never was, I just never knew it." Lok whispered.

"Were you happy when we met?"

"...yes." Lok admitted. "It was the greatest moment of my life."

"Were you happy after you made me leave you?"

"I still cry about it," Lok bit his lip. "Why have you come back," He faced his visitor. "Drosco?"

Drosco Pocrule was an Irken Lok had met four years ago on Zedia II, after he had crash landed and asked around for a technician. Drosco was the best and only one on the planet. Ironically they met after Lok had stopped to take a break in a bar and they chatted. Drosco was interested in men, like Lok had been from time to time with his evil ex army. The next morning Lok had discovered that the mechanic he was looking for was next to him in bed.

For a few weeks, Lok felt relaxed. It was like the two were inseparable until Lok's job had called him away.

Lok found him again...after he became General Lok of the Dark Power, servant of Shadow Lord Shay. Luckily, unlike the Tallest and most species, the Dark Power allowed for all sort of relation regardless of gender, so Lok had brought Drosco to him. Drosco, initially relieved to see him, was horrified at what his old flame had become.

He begged, cried, and screamed, trying to find a trace of the Lok he had met. But Lok soon grew so mad, fuelled by his Dark Shards-now numbering at a dozen that before he knew it...he had killed him, the one Irken he still genuinely loved, he ripped his head off, screaming that Drosco couldn't accept what he had become.

And then he cried for days. He did it until his eyes were dry and swollen, and then he did it some more. He begged Lord Shay to help, but even the Dark Power could not reverse Death.

Instead, it had driven him to become what he was. Stronger, greater...but he was alone, truly alone.

He fell to his knees. "Drosco..." He groaned, his fore head tapping against the glass. "I'm sorry...oh gods..." He then roared and reared his head back. He stood up and summoned his power. The glass dome he was in shattered, but he did not suffer the vacuum of space. His powers were beyond that...but when the air stopped flowing out, he was given the mercy of silence as he wailed and beat a taboo into the metal floor until the atmospheric shields appeared and oxygen flowed in.

Lok lay on the floor, his bloody hands healing. He looked at his knuckles and growled, scraping them back and forth across the floor at such speeds and with such strength he ripped the skin and muscles beneath. He kept it up until his fingers should have fallen off, but every shred of tissue was replaced, left clean and soft.

He wanted to kill himself.

_General Lok,_ _it is time._ There he goes again, Lord Shay...Lok's lord and master, his father and the only one who truly cared for Lok anymore.

Lok stood and left the room, leaving the bold stains on the floor to be cleaned up.

The pain was good...it let him have a moment where he forgot how much he loved Drosco...and how much he hated himself for killing him.

Maybe killing the few people he knew and had not yet murdered in cold blood would make him feel better.

Xxx

The surviving Irkens and allied species soldiers in the Irk System were gathered in the graveyard of Ships that had crushed the forests of Outer Irk. There were thousands of them, Irken Elites and Invaders, Vortian Commandos, Veniran Assassins, Planet Jackers, Aenorans, mythical Meekroobians,

Zim stood before them. "We have reassembled enough ships to transport all of us off of this planet. But as you all know...we are not fleeing, we shall finish our fight with the Dark Zealots!"

There was a roar of approval.

"Our plan is simple," Zim stated. "Despite their power, the Dark Ships have a critical flaw due to their entire fleet being networked. While no virus can hack them, we can however take advantage of flaw n their programming. Every seven hours, the entire fleet runs a two hundred second long self scan and maintenance check automatically. This leaves all but looking out a window useless to them. For my plan, we shall take our ships and approach on Irk's dark side, staying out of sensor range until this next scan begins. Then we shall move full throttle towards Irk through a debris field and cut our engines, letting our momentum carry us down into the atmosphere where we will re-engage and then make for the palace. There," Zim propped his foot on the helmet of a Shadow Soldier and crushed it under his boot. "We will crush the life from Lord Shay. He sits on my throne, taunting us as his forces prepare to conquer the galaxy where the old Empire failed! Well he shall fail! We shall not allow this to happen! We stand between him and our loved ones! We stand between him and the rest of the galaxy! And if he wants to set one foot near another planet," He activated his built in plasma blade. "He'll have to climb over our corpses to do it! ARE YOU WITH ME?"

The entire field was filled with shouts and cheers. Nobody here was looking to flee.

And Grim was especially dead set on revenge.

Xxx

But when Zim brought him aside during the launch preparations, he was told a different story.

"My son, I have lied." Zim whispered as he led Grim to a small shuttle. "Shay is in this system...but hey lies in wait on his flag ship."

"What? But then why do you plan to attack the palace?" Grim demanded.

Zim smiled sadly. "You need a distraction if you want to get on that cruiser."

For Grim, the universe could not have gotten any worse by that point. "No, no not you too father!" Grim shook his head desperately.

Zim nodded. "Grimrair, the Empire will fall to you to protect after this. With Shay gone, the Dark Fleet will try to regroup. You must be there for our people."

"But what about you? What about Skullene?" Grim begged. "Don't you think she's lost enough family?"

Zim then did something unexpected: he pulled Grim into a hug, like he used to centuries ago as Splorchamheimer. Grim's face was pressed into Zim's shoulder as Zim rubbed his back. "No more my son...no more. If I have to leave you two again...at least I can make it worth something." He then gently forced Grim into the entry way of the shuttle where Jana, Skullene, Arnor, Darth, Nick, an impatient General Grash, and two grim looking Irkens who Grim knew to be Loe and Kay, Lok's former team mates stood.

"You all are our greatest hope." Zim said. "Destroy our enemy, and live the lives you have earned after this."

He gently pulled a tearful Skullene over and kissed her forehead. "Good bye, sweet heart."

"Dad," Skullene whispered, hugging Zim around the neck. "First mom...twice, and now you? For real this time?"

Zim wiped away her tears gently. "After this...hold on to your brother, without each other, you might find life won't be much worth it anymore." He kissed Skullene's forehead again. "Farewell...Skullene."

And then the hatch shut in front of him, cutting Skullene and Grim off from their father.

Grim gently tugged Skullene back from the hatch as Kay marched to the cockpit and got the shuttle off of the ground. Around them, hundreds of ships began to take off. Many were patched together, but their crews were trained and ready to die to protect their homes from this new menace.

As one, they launched from Outer Irk, and made for Irk itself.

Xxx

"They are coming," Lord Shay whispered from the shadows that hid his throne.

"Yes," Lok whispered gloomily. "I feel them too."

"They will try something...your former leader is anything if not a clever tactician." Shay smiled lightly under his hood. "Destroy all who oppose the Dark Power."

"Service to the Dark," Lok repeated the mantra. "Loyalty until our souls are extinguished, and may the Dark take us into the night." He faced Shay. "Your will be done...my lord."

Xxx

End of chapter!

And yeah, Lok's bi and he'll have a male lover in this, there will be some yaoi, got a problem?...then...(flips the bird to anybody looking to whine about it) kiss my ass, he's my OC, I was curious to see how he'd turn out-I like how he did by the way and I wanted some variety to the romance. You'll see more of Drosco after this chapter also.


	7. Chapter 7

A Dark Power

OCs are owned by Zim'sMostLoyalServant, ngrey651, zombiefear101, and BloddyRosePettles.

Invader Zim belongs to Jhonen Vasquez.

Xxx

**Episode Six: The Truth of Consequence, Part 2**

"All ships are in formation my Tallest," An Irken officer aboard the Omni-Hunter, Zim's de facto flag ship announced.

"Is the Assault Team in position?" Zim asked,

"They are ready to initiate the operation on your command my Tallest."

"Synchronize the Fleet Clock, as soon as the next Maintenance Cycle begins, I want us to get through has fast as possible. At ten seconds, all ships will move ahead at full throttle, cut engines twenty seconds past the Maintenance Cycle's activation." Zim ordered. "And send a message to the Assault Team...may the gods watch over them."

Xxx

"There it is." Darth hissed. "I don't need eyes to sense all of the illness and corruption coming from Shay's vessel."

"Let's not waste time then," Grim interjected. "Let's get on board and take our revenge on him for all he has done to our peoples."

"We move in ten seconds," Loe announced from his station. "Ten seconds after that we'll be invisible...unless somebody looks out a window and sees our engine emissions.""

When the timer reached ten seconds, Kay gunned the ship forward at full speed. This was repeated by the nearby assault fleet.

Xxx

Zim counted off the seconds in his head as his fleet accelerated through a debris field. As he passed the husk of Envon's ship, the Setepia, he spoke. "Cut engines and let our momentum take us down."

The engines died out, and the ships, now looking more like husks among the many falling pieces of debris fell towards Irk. Any ships nearby ignored them due to the several hundred ships being so scattered and isolated from one another that they did not catch any attention from the random crew member looking out of a view port.

But Lok did not need to pick out which ships were manned or not to know that his old friends had begun.

He looked over his shoulder, once again standing in the dome room he always liked to isolate himself in. Behind him stood Tantax and Sket.

"What do you command...General Lok?" Sket asked.

"Report to the Palace," Lok replied. "I feel you may really find yourselves more useful there."

"As you wish, my lord." Tantax nodded, a disgusted look on his face. He hated having to obey somebody so short.

After several seconds of nobody moving, Lok sighed, exasperated. "That would mean NOW!" As he shouted the last word, he spun, energy sparkling off of him. The sheer power display sent the two former leaders of the Irken military running.

Back on the Omni Hunter, Zim glanced at a small hologram projector he placed on the arm rest of his chair. It showed his entire family after it had united on Irk before the massive celebrations. Tak, so beautiful, laughing as Zim had his arms around her waist and playfully lifted her off the ground. She was kicking and laughing at the same time. Envon wasn't even looking at the camera, he was making out with some other officer, both of them being quite drunk. Grim was supporting Hellion, who was half dead from booze and had his arm around the waist of an attractive, red eyed woman of his own.

Paneece was hanging off of Skullene's shoulders, and the elder woman had a startled expression on her face.

Not much of a family photo, but it meant the world to Zim.

"All ships are set for re-entry!"

"Heat shields holding!"

"Thirty seconds left on the clock!"

"Activate thrusters!" Zim barked. "Angle us to head for the Palace!"

The fleet of small ships changed course bit by bit, altering their direction so that when the time was right they came down at a trajectory that would bring them close to the palace. They engaged several fighter patrols that they ran into along the way after their main engines came back on line.

Xxx

"My lord! Lord Lok!" A soldier rushed into the dome room. "Our sentries are reporting a massive movement of enemies on the surface!"

"How big?" Lok asked without a single bit of concern.

"We estimate four to five hundred, all of them ranging from scout ships to frigates with fighter compliments."

"..." Lok's mouth curled into a smile. "Launch our fighter wings."

"How many sir?"

"All of them," Lok muttered.

"But sir, what about-"

Lok turned, his black eyes piercing the soldier's very soul. "_All of them._"

The now haunted soldier rushed off to relay this order.

"Come on...I know you want to find me." He whispered. "So just kill me and get it over with."

Xxx

CRASH!

BOOM!

The shuttle had a single breach charge attached to its tip, capable of blowing through the outer hull of the flagship of the Dark Fleet. But it had also blown the cockpit open. Luckily Kay had abandoned it and set it on auto pilot, waiting in the back with the armed assault team.

When the shuttle's charge blew, what was left of the ship flew right through and into the massive ship. Behind it, shields formed to keep the atmosphere from venting out. Crew members were crushed under the crashed ship before it came to rest against a wall.

Moments later, a side hatch was blown off and Nick leaped out. He raised his rifle and quickly picked off two guards who were cautiously approaching the wreckage. Next, Skullene joined him, followed by the rest of the Assault Squadron.

"Just like back on the Massive." Credaran growled before he took out a knife and flung it through the air. It sank into a guard's head as he tried to draw his pistol and knocked him on his back, the blade sunk into his left eye.

"But we're more pressed for time this time around." Grim stated. "We need to locate Lok and Shay."

"Already got them!" Loe declared, tapping a device on his wrist and projecting an image of the ship. "Lok's PAK still has a standard emergency tracer in it, I managed to remote activate it using its frequency. And where there's smoke there's fire so Shay will be near him."

"Let's go through here." Skullene indicated a single section. "The core maintenance level, it can lead us to the maintenance tunnels and up to the throne room."

"Then let's get moving!"

Xxx

"Tallest Zim's counter attack has begun," Lord Shay drawled. "Lok, stay here. They will come for you and me no doubt. We shall be prepared for them."

"Yes, my lord." Lok bowed his head, and then took up his position next to Shay. His hand brushed over the hilt of the plasma sword that he had taken from Jana after he had defeated her...two long years ago. Like he had defeated Eder, and every army they placed between him and his goal.

'This is why I am here,' He thought. 'I'm the greatest...I took on everything without help and I won every time. I'm the greatest...I'm the best...I'm the greatest warrior who has wanted to die.'

He shut his eyes and waited.

'Drosco, if all works out, maybe I'll see you again soon.'

"My lord! The reactor maintenance level has been breached and we have hostiles flooding in!" A soldier shouted over the communicator built into the throne.

Shay smirked. "Perfect, just as expected, and in the right place."

"You knew they would go through there?" Lok inquired.

"And that they will use the Maintenance Deck to get here next."

"Why do we not just suffocate them?"

"I'd rather keep Zim's daughter and son alive, make him watch them die." Shay stood up and walked to the edge of the room, looking down at Irk. "Our first actual invasion in this galaxy...and it has been the most costly and eventful one I have had the honour of leading."

'You lead it? I lead it you moron.' Lok hissed from the corner of his mind.

"After the empire's other planets fall, I expect this galaxy will be quite easy to conquer." Shay chuckled. "Do you agree, General Lok?"

"Yes, my lord." Lok drawled emotionlessly.

"You sound trouble, General," Shay had false concern in his voice. "Is it the loss of your lover? The one known as Drosc-"

"Don't say his name." Lok whispered bitterly, turning away from Shay. "He's behind me," Lok missed him and cried for him at night. "I chose the Darkness over him," Lok made the stupidest choice of his life and paid for it every second that he had to endure existing. "And I will not mourn for him." He wanted to die so he could see him again.

"Very good, General Lok," Shay nodded. "After this galaxy is conquered, I shall leave it in your capable hands whilst I resume the invasion of the Andromeda Galaxy."

"You invade more than one galaxy at a time?"

"We have enough to invade ten galaxies in our home cluster alone," Shay almost sneered. "The Irken Empire could combat us if it had enough numbers, but even if we had failed here at Irk, my successor would lead a new fleet within a mere century to continue the invasion. And while this galaxy resists, two others would fall and supply the resources and hands to conquer this one."

"Intriguing," Lok muttered.

"And a system that has not failed me for the past eight billion years." Shay resumed his position on the throne.

There was a first time for everything though, and Lok prayed this was that time.

"They are near, be ready."

Xxx

Darth looked up as Skullene jammed the door behind the team. "Lok is near."

"I know, his signal is barely a half mile away now." Loe nodded. "If we hurry we can be there in several minutes!"

Xxx

Down in the Capital City of Irk, Zim's forces controlled the palace and its added air defences.

"My Tallest! We have located scattered Irken units who are focusing on our position." An Officer reported to Zim, who stood in the throne room.

"Have them assigned to defend several of the turrets," Zim ordered. "And have the technicians managed to unlock the Anti Orbital gun yet?"

"They have just finished unlocking its controls my Tallest," The officer nodded. "But there is a problem. The enemy flag ship is moving over the palace."

"So he intends to finish us? Well we shall bring his dreadnaught down with the mightiest weapon on Irk." Zim glared up through ha hole in the ceiling. "Let him come."

And let the Assault Team hurry and finish him off.

"What is the condition of our...prisoners?" Zim asked.

"They resisted fiercely," The officer shrugged. "We had to kill Admiral Sket, and currently General Tantax is...in the process of dying."

"Let him," Zim said coldly. "If we die, he can die slower."

Xxx

"Clear!" Skullene shouted, and blew the charges on the door.

The team was met with an entire platoon of enemies that began to rush through the hole she had made. The assault team immediately opened fire.

"Fall back! Three at a time! Cover fire!" Grim barked orders as Nick tugged Darth away from the fight.

As the fight proceeded, the team slowly began to push forward instead of being forced back down the maintenance tunnel. Soon only a few soldiers were left before them.

But then one got a lucky shot in. Nick heard a gasp next to him, and saw the hole in Darth's stomach. "DARTH!" He stood and raised his rifle, emptying an entire energy cell into the killer's head before he could flee.

As the last soldier fell, the group converged on Darth.

He lay against a wall, breathing deeply as Nick tried to seal his wound. But the Dark soldiers had not used energy guns, but projectile weapons, so the wound was no cauterized and whatever rounds had been used had left a massive wound.

"I...go..." He whispered. "I just wish...I could have stayed for the..." He groaned in pain. "Last fight."

Nick desperately tried to save his friend's life. "Stay awake Darth! Stay awake!"

"No...go with them." Darth ordered the communications officer. "They need you to help...the whole galaxy needs you Nick...go...now..."

And then Chancellor Darithir died.

Jana looked at Nick, sympathizing with the now crying Irken. She looked towards one of the wounded soldiers the team had taken down. Walking over, she planted one foot on his back as he tried to crawl away. He whimpered ,but she just took his rifle from him. When she stepped away, he sighed in relief...and then his head exploded as Jana fired a single round into him.

"Odd," She ejected the magazine, which carried a mere fifteen rounds. "These are like a miniature seeker missile. Reconfigured for anti infantry applications. The round is launched, the small fuel reserve is used to propel it, the small fins on the bullet help adjust its trajectory, and then the tip explodes...causing maximum damage."

She slid the clip back in. "This is advanced technology. Advanced and brutish."

"We need to move on." Grim said. "Nick, I'm sorry, but Darth wanted us to move on! We have to go." He grasped the green eyed Irken's shoulders and pulled him away from Darth.

Nick nodded, teeth clenched. "Let's kill that traitor and his precious Prophet!"

And they stepped through into a circular room with a ladder that lead upwards. Grim climbed up first, followed by Jana, Skullene, Nick, and then Grash.

"We'll keep guard down here." Credaran stated as the five Irkens climbed up. "Don't be too long."

"Don't worry," Grim replied. "We'll be quick."

They came to a hatch built into the side of a tube the ladder led up through. Grim unlocked it and then climbed through. He was in an empty corridor. At one end was a door that led to 'Royal Hall', and the door at the other end led to the Throne Room.

"Perfect," He muttered as his companions climbed out.

"When we get in there, we must destroy Shay first." Grash stated. "Lok may be strong, but Shay has powers beyond anything you could ever believe. He is still mortal, so we hit him with everything we have."

"Got it," Nick slid a fresh cell into his rifle.

Grash walked up to the doors to the throne room...and with a single flick sent them flying out of their frames. They landed halfway between the entrance and the throne. The room was large, circular, with a dome roof that showed the fleet outside.

Shay sat on his throne, and next to him stood his General, Lok.

"Lord Shay!" Grim shouted. "Your threat to our empire ends here!"

Shay smiled, amused. He slowly stood and took off his hood.

Shay was an alien unlike any they had ever seen. He looked similar to the Meekroobians, but had a white tinge instead of a blue tinge to him, and he had a general shape that made him look angular, and a pair of black robs rested on his head, possibly his eyes. His sleeves rolled back to reveal hands with thumbs and four fingers, looking solid yet not solid at the same time. His mouth was perhaps the most visible feature, a simple black line when it was closed that clashed with his skin.

"Ah, the young Prince Grimrair," Shay sounded welcoming and warm. "I've been wondering when you and your sister would show up...and the assassin, I remember you all too well. A Shadow, correct?"

"How do you-?" Jana started.

"The Dark Power omnipresent, I know how this invasion will end and I know how it could have ended had the Irken Empire ruled the galaxy. You don't think the rebellion formed from nothing, do you? We provided some...ideas, some ships here or there to fuel its growth. And I must say, Zim did not disappoint us by sending you back in time in an effort to prevent it. All according to plan. You played your part well, little puppet."

"Enough talk!" Nick shouted. "You've murdered billions, and I'll see you dead for it!" He roared, now possessed by his rage and fired his rifle. "JOLLY Ol' SAINT NICK IS GUNNING YOU DOWN YOU BASTARD!"

Shay's eyes closed, and he vanished. The lasers tore apart his throne. When he reappeared he yawned. "I like that throne you know." He snapped his fingers. "General...kill them all."

"Yes, my lord." Lok nodded, and then the next second his hand was inside Nick's chest. He had shot all the way across the room and to the green clad officer, jamming his right hand through his rib cage. Nick gasped as Lok literally tore his Suqeedlyspooch out.

Now an empty husk attached to a PAK, Nick fell, dead before he had even been aware of it.

"No!" Skullene raised her pistol and fired. Lok swiftly dodged the shots from the group and back flipped out of range of Grim's scythes. He landed, and without stopping did a handless cart wheel. Landing in the middle of the room, he stood and drew his plasma sword.

Jana drew her own. Grash activated his arm mounted plasma blade. They lunged for Lok, and began to exchanged blows with him.

"Get Shay!" Grash shouted. "We'll hold him!"

Grim and Skullene rushed around the sword fight and charged for Shay. Skullene fired her pistol again, but Shay seemed to casually step out of the way of each shot. When Grim got close enough he swung his scythe and cut into Shay, but the Shadow Lord didn't seem to mind. He just flicked his wrist and sent Grim flying.

He slid along the floor and hit his head on the wall. He looked up as Shay appeared over him, one hand slowly forming a sphere of energy. "I did say I wanted Zim to see this...maybe a recording will do instead." He smirked. "Now...die Irken Prince!"

He reared his arm back...and screamed as four PAK legs impaled him from behind. He growled and looked at the culprit: Skullene, who fired her pistol into him, point blank range.

He tore the Spider Legs out of her PAK as he spun and punched her across the face. She stumbled and tried to bring her gun up, but he flicked his hand and her gun arm was severed at the elbow.

"Skullene! NO!" Grim grabbed his scythe, but it was too late.

Skullene on her knees, looked up with big, frightened eyes as Shay swung his arm again, and a blade of energy went through her torso. She gasped, and collapsed onto her back. Grim rushed to her and gently cradled his little sister.

"Skulls, Skullene!" Grim shouted desperately.

Skullene managed to open one eye. "Grim..." She smiled. "I see them...I see them Grim."

Grim held his sister as she stared up, possibly hallucinating. She looked him in the eye. "It's alright...they never left us. They're waiting Grim, just...waiting..." She closed her eyes. "Its beautiful...I see Shen...mom...Envon..Paneece...Hellion...Shellene." She exhaled. "So beautiful."

And then Grim's little sister, his last sibling died in his arms, a bloody mess.

Shaking, Grim gently wiped the blood from her chin and set her down...and then roared and swung his scythe around faster than he had ever done before. Shay, who had been standing behind Grim, enjoying his misery was caught off guard when the scythe sank into him. Unable to react, he had not managed to pull the same trick and manipulate his body structure so that the scythe hit nothing. Instead it tore him in half.

But Grim did not stop there. He kept tearing and slashing at Shay, who tried to regenerate only to be cut down again and again.

"General! GENERAL!" Shay wailed. "General Lok!"

Nearby, Grash lay pinned to the floor, a broken off PAK leg through his stomach and another through each shoulder. Jana, sporting a wound on her left arm, tried to fend off Lok, who attacked fiercely.

Lok looked over.

"Help me!" Shay groaned pitifully.

Lok rushed at Grim, swinging to kill with his first strike while the Prince was focused on avenging his sister's death. But then Jana was in front of him and swung, cutting Lok across the face and incinerating one of his eyes. He screeched in pain, which quickly turned to rage.

He extended his hands, which became a mass of tendrils and grabbed Jana. She was unable to react fast enough, and he tossed her across the room and into the ruins of the throne. She struck what was left of the chair, and it crumbled on top of her. She groaned in pain, one eye swollen shut from the impact, and her left arm was bent at an odd angle. She tried to dig her way free wit hher good arm, but Lok was standing over her a second later.

As Shay's screams died down, Lok used a brief telekinetic throw to force the wreckage off of Jana and then forced her to stand. She stumbled, breathing erratically. She searched for her plasma sword...and saw both it and her long lost sword blazing to life in Lok's hands. "Grim!"

Grim looked up as he dealt the blow that silenced Shay forever. "Jana?"

"Grim!" Jana screamed, realizing she was unable to fight Lok in her condition.

She tried to use her PAK legs, he sliced through them. Then he kicked her in the face, launching her into the wall behind her. She slid down an landed on both feet. She ducked under his first jab and weakly punched him in an attempt to fend him of. He replied with a cut across her face that made her scream and lose balance. But before she could even fall, he sank both plasma blades home, right through her chest. Her eyes widened, and blood shot out of her mouth as her organs melted or were ruptured by the presence of the highly heated plasma blades.

"JANA!" Grim shot across the room, both scythes blazing.

Lok tugged his swords free and spun, parrying aside Grim's first attack and almost casually cut off his right hand. Grim resisted the urge to scream and sank his other scythe home, into Lok's stomach. But Lok seemed to be unstoppable at the moment. He cut off one of Grim's legs, and continued to butcher Grim as he pushed the scythe deeper.

Suddenly, Lok froze, and collapsed. Both swords deactivated and rolled away from him.

As he stared off to the side of the dome, into the stars beyond, Lok whispered. "Drosco...I'm sorry..." He shut his eyes. 'Please forgive me...I love you.'

And then Lok died as one among many casualties taken.

He left Grim, missing both legs and one arm and Jana, who had a gaping hole in her torso. They lay next to one another, slowly dying.

"Jana..." Grim wheezed. "Are you...alright?"

"You have three of your limbs missing...and you ask me that?" Jana asked.

"Point taken," He tried to laugh, and vomited up some of his own blood. "Well...we did it." He turned onto his back. "Shay...Lok...they're dead."

Xxx

"Sir, the enemy flag ship is in low orbit and preparing to bombard us!"

"Time for my true plan then." Zim sighed as he sat on his throne. "Hold positions. I'll handle this myself."

A console appeared in front of him.

**Activate Eternity Contingency?**

Eternity, the last ditch plan to keep Irk from falling into enemy hands. It was now the last part of Zim's strategy.

He knew that it was too late to entirely stop the Dark Fleet. So when Jana had revealed the basics of time travel, he had proposed a new plan to change the outcome of history.

What had happened to cause Irk's fall was because Lok had never thought he could be corrupted. If they could change that one aspect, then everything would be salvaged. But Jana needed power to defy the time stream, more energy than she could ever think of acquiring.

Perhaps an explosion equal to a Super Nova would be enough energy for her to harness.

He looked up as the enemy flag ship loomed over the capital city. Its main guns were charging up.

Zim activated the Eternity Contingency, and near the core of Irk, multiple devices began to initiate an unstable reaction that would result in the destruction of Irk within mere seconds after they activated.

Xxx

"Grim...take this." Jana managed to crawl over to him and removed her Temporal Displacement Device from her wrist. She attached it to his one remaining arm.

"I don't see how that will help us."

"Grim, I told you...I needed more power if I ever wanted to travel through time again, I needed more because this time stream is so far off from the main one." Jana coughed. "We need...just one chance...to go back and change anything we can."

"What are you trying to-"

"This future is dead Grim," Jana whispered. "We need anything we can...to change it. Your father will destroy this Irk...to fuel the Temporal Transition and open a portal for you." She whimpered in pain. "It-it will take you back to the caves on Outer Irk...if you can save yourself...and perhaps the clone...maybe then the temporal reaction will change enough...to avoid this war. One small change can trigger...a massive result. Maybe whatever you would have done could...could save us."

"Jana-"

She silenced him with a brief kiss to his lips. "I always respected you, even before I knew you were his son...you were one of those we worked to make proud." She smiled. "Have I...made you proud...my lord?"

Grim placed his one hand on the side of her face, caressing it. "Yes Jana...you've made me proud of you. You've done so well."

"Thank you," She whispered. "Thank you...my prince."

Her green eyes slowly slid shut, and she left this world.

Grim struggled to sit up, gently holding Jana's body close to him. "You've given me a second chance...that's more than I could have ever asked for."

Looking at the Temporal Displacement Device, he activated it as the surface of Irk began to ripple. Slowly, the planet was being destroyed from inside.

Xxx

As thousands looked around in shock and horror, Zim sat on his throne, not moving. He smiled. "I just hope this works."

And then Irk exploded, taking Zim with it.

Xxx

The meagre, nearly inaccessible portal Grim had formed was powered by the sudden boost of absorbing heat energy from the planet being destroyed. As thousands of ships were blown to pieces, the portal enveloped Grim. The re-set coordinates of the device carried him out of the apocalyptic event and across the time stream.

The power provided by Irk's destruction had allowed Grim to successfully travel through time despite being on a reality that was so low on the probability scale. To him it was like travelling through ha dark tunnel at hundreds of miles an hour.

And then he landed on a familiar, rocky surface.

Xxx

"...as you wish, Prince Grimrair-"

Jana paused as the cave began to shake.

"...the grenade triggered a seismic event, didn't it?" Jana sighed, exasperated.

"Most likely," Grim shrugged with his eyes wide.

"Bring it on." Jana slumped, and the cave system began to shift as parts of the Earth collapsed overhead.

Several rocks fell towards the three Irkens. Grim grabbed Jana and the clone and tugged them out of the way of another one. More fell, crushing the clone's pod as Grim tried to make for the river. A rather large piece fell towards them, threatening to crush them...

And a laser shot out of nowhere and shattered it into particle sized bits. This was repeated, but with the falling debris all around and dust shooting up, none of the three ever saw it.

They reached a raft, and Grim and Jana quickly tossed the clone in and used their PAK legs to push off, heading for a more stable part of the caves further down the stream.

They left behind a small figure that was missing both legs and one arm. The future Grim managed to smile, lowering the PAK legs he had used to blast apart the rocks.

"I did it..." He whispered. "Hopefully...that was enough..." He lied back. "Heh...I wonder...that Jana girl...would it have worked out?"

Oblivion answered the living paradox, and gave him one final peace as a reward for his efforts.

The future had been changed, now it all fell to the present Prince Grimrair to make what changes he could on his own. He only felt a slight head ache due to the paradox of two Grimrairs existing in one time at once, and never once thought something of it.

As far as anybody was concerned, that future never happened.

Xxx

End of chapter

And right after this, things will resume as normal. All plot line I had before these last two chapters will continue as though nothing happened.

The Truth of Consequence Ark is over.

Betchya never thought Lok could be that evil, eh?


	8. Chapter 8

A Dark Power

OCs in this are property of Zim'sMostLoyalServant, ngrey651, zombiefear101, and BloddyRosePettles.

IZ is property of Jhonen Vasquez

And I apologize for not updating as much. I lost al ot of creativty from working on that last Ark...and I've been stuck on a really good video game...and then came the home work-but anyways, to the chapter!

Xxx

**Episode Seven: Stranded, in more ways than one**

Jana and Grim screamed as the raft shot down the underground river, which had been sped up by the collapsing caverns behind them. Between them, the clone of Skullene was sitting on the floor of the raft, curled up into a ball.

"_Dead end!_" Jana pointed ahead to where the river was cut off by several large rocks that had fallen into the current.

"Don't think so!" Grim grabbed Jana around the waist with one arm, and the clone with his other arm. "Hang on!"

The clone screamed as Grim unleashed his boosters and shot all three of them into the air. The raft struck the rocks and was deflated in seconds, impaled on some rather sharp rocks. Grim managed to land on a section of land above the river, lining the side of the tunnel. He set both women down and retracted his booster pack. "That was too close for my liking."

Jana was wringing her cloak between her hands, trying to get the water it had taken in out of it. She unclipped it and grumbled. "This is my favourite cloak,_ echuta_ it's my only cloak!"

"Alright, time to talk now that we aren't at risk of dying." Grim said sternly. "Tell me who you are and why you helped me."

"I told you my name is Jana," Jana replied, flapping her cloak once and then laying it out on the ground. "And I am a mutual ally of yours."

"You seem rather...talented, so you're no drone...elite forces?" Grim asked.

Jana scoffed. "Fancily dressed fools with big spears? Don't make me laugh."

"Ex-Invader?"

"I was trained to kill single threats, not hide for months on end from them."

"Well I used to be one; I didn't turn out too bad." Grim activated one of his scythes and held t up to further illuminate the cavern. "So where did you come from?"

"Irk," Jana replied curtly.

The clone suddenly sneezed. "Ach-CHOO!"

"Aw great, she can get a cold like we can," Grim sighed.

"What do you mean? Irkens don't get colds." Jana looked at him.

"By 'we' I mean the Royal Princes and Princesses," Grim sighed as he knelt next to the clone. "Unlike most Irkens we don't rely 100 percent on our PAKs, so while it strengthens our immune systems a bit, it left us able to contract minor diseases as children. Nothing threatening, but I often had to make Skullene, Hellion and Paneece hide it due to the fact that it was a sure sign of defectiveness." He paused as he took a towel from his PAK's storage. "But that's publically available data now...wouldn't you know it?"

"I stay off the beaten track." Jana replied, watching Grim drape the towel around the soaked clone.

"I guessed as much, considering the rather advanced technology you're packing." Grim gestured to her plasma sword. "The only Irken I know who has one of those is the Tallests' Former Hunter, Lok, and he never told me where he got it."

"He took it from me...after he defeated me." Jana sighed. "I was one of his targets on a mission...and I got arrogant, I thought I could beat him. Instead he almost killed me and ruined my plans."

"What plans?"

"It was against the former Tallest, you don't have to worry about them now that your father is in control." Jana dismissed the question.

Grim turned to the clone. Kneeling in front of her, he tilted her chin up. She looked so much like Skullene, except for the minor skin tone change and the red eyes. She stared at him with wide eyes.

"Do you know who I am?" Grim asked, trying to ascertain if the clone could access its memory banks.

The clone nodded.

"Do you have a name? Did they just call you Skullene?" Grim continued to gently press the clone for answers.

"Z-zuh-zero." She whispered.

By the gods she even sounded like Skullene!

"Zero? Is that your name?"

The clone, Zero, nodded, still shivering. She looked around. "This...th-iis isn't the lab they-they kept me in."

"Did they ever wake you up before?" Grim asked.

She nodded. "Once, in a tank...I was still growing. I could see everything...but I couldn't get out of the tank."

"Did they ever say what they wanted from you?"

Zero shook her head. "No, they just...did what they wanted to."

"We'll get you some help...after we get out of here." Grim promised her.

"I think this tunnel may lead to the surface." Jana pointed to the only tunnel on their section of the tunnel. "If Eder and his men survived, they may pursue us for the clone."

"My name is Zero!" Zero snapped at Jana, for a moment acting like the old defiant Skullene.

'Why is she named after a number anyways...oh.' Grim glanced at the three numbers on her chest. 'They might have called her Triple Zero ever since she was grown, maybe that just stuck with her.'

"I don't care," Jana replied, drawing her plasma sword and using it to illuminate the tunnel. "You're a cheap copy of Princess Skullene, an _actual_ great warrior. If Prince Grimrair did not want you I might not have bothered with helping you."

Zero stood up, the towel in one hand. She walked over to Jana, who glanced over her shoulder.

"Do you want to say that to me again?" Zero asked.

Grim watched with interest. Now Zero was acting almost precisely like the Skullene he knew and loved. Even the way she moved was correct.

"Are you challenging me, clone?" Jana's emerald eyes narrowed as she slowly turned her sword on Zero. "I may have saved your life, but I will gladly end it also!"

"You'll try," And then Zero said an Irken word so offensive even Grim was surprised at her vocabulary.

But Jana had a bigger reaction. She snarled and lunged at Zero, her sword arching, leaving a faint trail behind it as it cut through the darkness. Zero dropped and rolled to her left to avoid the first downwards strike, and then stretched her towel out, gripping the two ends with one hand each and forming a makeshift rope. She positioned it and got close enough so that when Jana swung her sword, her wrist collided with the towel, which Zero looped around her arm while moving under it.

With the movement of Jana's sword arm under her control, Zero slammed the arm down on her own shoulder, making Jana drop it. But then Jana kicked her in the back of her knees, making her stumble. Jana then leaped over Zero, flipping once in mid air, and landed, her cloak flaring. She had her sword a moment later and activated it again, bathing the battleground in a green glow.

Jana jabbed forward, and Zero bent her body so that it just barely missed her side. Then she pivoted, sending dirt flying up. She practically flew off of the ground, twisting in mid jump. First her right heel knocked Jana's sword away, and the toe of her left boot hit Jana's sword arm. Jana yelped as her sword hand, disarmed had to take a moment to properly function again. She stretched the arm out and was ready for when Zero landed in a crouch and lunged at her.

Jana raised one hand and fired three metal spheres attached to one another by metallic cables. The projectile spun through the air and Zero gasped. Before she knew it, it had gone around her neck and wrists, pinning her hands against her throat. The three balls touched one another and became magnetically attached, with a positively charged sphere between the two negatively charged spheres.

Zero struggled to free her hands as Jana snatched her laser sword up.

Jana was ready to go in for the kill, and by then Grim had drawn his scythes and leaped in to interfere, but then Zero's PAK legs came out and slammed into Jana. The tips were dulled instead of razor sharp, so they did not impale Jana; instead they knocked the breath out of her and sent her to the ground. It was possibly to keep her from killing Eder or his guards if she resisted.

"Enough!" Grim got between them as Zero got free and Jana flipped onto her feet. "Both of you, we have no time for this childish argument!"

Jana hesitated, but obeyed her prince. She deactivated her sword and placed it in her belt. "I apologize my-"

"Don't apologize!" Grim snapped at her. "I will not tolerate any fighting between you two! Jana, you initiated it, and Zero, you fed the damn fire. You both could have killed each other. You will _not_ fight again, _am I understood?_"

Jana flinched, looking down. "Y-yes my lord!" Her voice was more higher pitched than normal, like Grim had truly scared her a bit. But it was not fear, but disappointment. Grim was Zim's son, it was like disappointing Zim...but it felt a lot worse because she had known Grim from her training as a shadow. He was one of the five confirmed 'Legacy Children' Tallest Zim had managed to discover while examining old files. He found one locked under the 'Tallest Miyuki' lock code, meaning only he could open it. When he did...he was rather delighted.

He had the heirs of former tallest Miyuki at his side, and they were some of the best Irkens in the empire. An Admiral who conquered more than the Tallests Red and Purple could, a warrior who was unequalled in battle, an invader who cold conquer entire solar systems on her own, a blood thirsty killer who had no quarrels over spilt blood, and a hacker of such skill she hacked the control brains.

Jana had especially liked Grim. Maybe it was because he was so much like Zim in a way. Though he had a lot of power, he was smart about how he used it. A true example of what a shadow should be like.

Needless to say this Shadow felt like crap right now. Zero on the other hand glared defiantly at Grim. Ever since she awoke her PAK's memory core had slowly rebooted, allowing her access to more and more personality traits and memories of Skullene...but she was also like Red in a way. Skullene was more of the calculated warrior, but Zero was more of a furious fighter who just happened to know where to hit and when. She made sure her hits were as hard as possible, not trying to conserve energy for future attacks, instead trying to end the fight immediately. The burst of anger Jana had caused by insulting her had only increased the pace of this transformation.

"Good, now let's go." Grim lit up the tunnel with one scythe. "Zero, you stay behind me. Jana, you stay in front."

He didn't trust her? Jana almost wanted to cry as she marched, shoulders and head slumped into the tunnel.

Xxx

**Aquas**

"So...you want me to leave the planet full of hot women after _you_ banished me here, so I can fight _another _war?" Former Tallest Purple asked as he stared at the communication screen set up in front of the table he was lying on.

"Yes Purple, and if you repeat that question another five times I'll bomb Aquas." Tallest Zim sighed irritably.

"No way! I ain't leaving Zim. You banished me here, banished I shall stay!" Purple declared as the woman gave him another massage. "I'm treated like a god here!" He grinned up at one woman. "Go ahead ladies, show Zm how much you love me?"

Sadly at the time the sun had gone down, and the ladies transformed.

CRUNCH!

"Wow! What a kisser! They're all so good at this!" Purple cheered, his head stuck inside a giant worm monster's mouth.

A nearby Irken drone sighed. "Get the prod!"

Some of the drones banished with Purple began to force the monster to release the former Tallest's head, using electric prods.

Zim sighed. "Aw florp it." He cut the link.

Xxx

**Irk**

"This is not good! NO!" Zim declared, standing up off his throne. "We're being invaded and I'm short two princes and one princess and the 67th fleet is without its commander! Initiate Protocol 7: Mail box to self destruct, NOW!"

Outside the palace ,a simple mail box sat by the public street.

Stan the mail Irken whistled as he walked up and took an envelope out of his bag...only for the mail box to explode in front of him. Covered in soot, he stared at it. "Do people really hate getting their bills that much?" He opened the envelope. "Ouch! I sure would if I had to pay this!"

Back in the palace...

Tak sighed, running one hand over her face. "Zim..."

"And cancel my subscription to Irken Digest-those cheap sell outs charged me for five hundred years of service I never got anyways." Zim continued. "And give me a status report on the Robot Death Monkey Project!"

"Zim."

"The robot death monkey tried to kill everybody when it was activated sir." A guard reported.

"Curses!"

"ZIM!"

Zim paused and looked at his mate. "Yes Tak?"

"Calm down." Tak stood up to her full height, which barely reached Zim's chest with his full regained height. He stood as tall as he had once as Splorchamheimer, and looked equally as impressive. "Grim i on a mission to Outer Irk, Skullene is back on Vort, and Envon went to Lebinine. We know where they are, you don't have to worry."

Zim sighed and sat down. "You're right...I just am nervous about this war Tak. I have not lead something this large within five centuries, I fear my skill has dulled."

"Zim," Tak said firmly as she took his hand. "You lead us to victory against the empire itself once. You can do it again with these Dark Zealots."

Zim nodded. "You are right Tak." He regained his confidence. "The only thing that ever defeated me was my brother Apoc, and I will not allow myself to be defeated twice!" He wrapped an arm around Tak's waist and planted a kiss on her lips.

Tak's mouth curled into a smirk, knowing she had motivated him into action...again. She paused as her antennae shook a bit. She blushed and stepped back.

"It happened again, didn't it?" Zim asked.

Tak nodded, biting her lip. "It has ever since...you know."

Zim smiled softly and pulled Tak into his arms again, rubbing her back. "It will be worth it when it is over."

Tak nodded. "It will be."

They exchanged another brief kiss.

"Just try not to make me feel like that until it's over Zim." Tak looked down, a little embarrassed. "Irkens have gone centuries without having a mating call. And with how I am now it'll be especially easy to make me accidently send one out. The pheromones I produce keep making my guards act woozy, eve nthe female ones."

"Well like you said, it's been centuries of no mating. Not a lot of living Irkens know what the mating call even is." Zim placed a hand on his mate's stomach. "But then again, none of them were bearing children."

Xxx

**Zedia II**

"So you're sure you can trust this person?" Darth asked.

"Positive," Lok nodded.

"How?" Nick, who was looking at a picture of this contact Lok had mentioned asked.

"We dated." Lok shrugged.

Nick and Darth looked surprised at Lok.

"Wait...I didn't know you swung that way." Nick said as Lok got out of the small hover taxi.

Zedia II's capital consisted of a small frontier colony with the only space port on the planet and around a thousand mixed inhabitants. The town was essentially one long road lined with every building. The shop was called 'Pocrule Pro-Repairs'.

When they came into the shop, Lok tapped a bell on the front counter.

"Coming!" A voice called from the back room.

A moment later, an Irken stepped out of the back room. He was a little taller than Nick and Lok, and his antennae had exotic curves to them. His eyes were red, and he had pitch black arrow shaped tattoos on his face crossing over his eyes. One went upwards over her left eye, and one went downwards over her right eye.

He wore a pair of knee high black leather boots that hugged his legs. One had a red arrow with the tip on the instep of the foot, and the other had a purple arrow. Next, a pair of short black shorts with a downwards red arrow on the left leg and an upwards purple arrow on the right. The final part of his attire was an unzipped leather jacket with red stripes on the left sleeve, purple sleeves on the right, and a red arrow on the right side of the zipper, and a final purple one on the left side of the zipper. He wore no shirt underneath.

His eyes widened and he gasped. "Lok! Sexy!"

"Drosco! Handsome!" Lok vaulted over the counter and they both embraced.

Nick and Darth exchanged a glance and a shrug.

"What brings you back to these parts sexy?" Drosco asked.

"The usual stuff," Lok shrugged. "Killed somebody, pissed somebody off, the galaxy ending as we know it."

"Well you and your friends are welcome here," Drosco gave Lok a light kiss on the lips. "Close down!"

"**STORE CLOSED!**" A robotic voiced boomed as the 'closed' sign turned on outside.

"Come on into the back, we can talk," Drosco led them into the back room...which was a giant work shop.

"So...Drosco, Lok told us you specialize in unorthodox robotic weaponry," Darth said a nick guided him along.

"Yep, just watch." Drosco whistled and a small bear robot and a snake robot sitting on a table next to the group activated. They moved onto Drosco's arms...and shaped themselves into weapons. The bear turned into a bulky, arm mounted sort of miniature plasma cannon. The other formed into a pistol.

"Ooh!" Nick said as he looked at them. "A teddy bear that turns into a plasma cannon and a pstol that travels around on your shoulders! Cool!

"Got more where these came from." Drosco set the robots aside. "So tell me, what do you gentlemen need of little Drosco?" He propped himself up on a stool.

"A safe place to hide," Lok replied. "And a research lab where I won't be asked any unnecessary questions."

"Well I'm sure it'll be easy to get that lab I let you set up in the second floor up and running again." Drosco smiled and got off of the stool. "Are you staying long?"

"A few days, maybe a week." Lok shrugged.

"Great!" Drosco grinned. "Plenty of time to catch up."

"I look forward to that," Lok said before he gently planted his lips over Drosco's.

"I can't see, why's everybody quiet?" Darth asked.

"The wonders of love Darth," Nick sniffed, wiping a tear out of his eye as he watched the emotional scene. "The wonders of love."

"I heard that movie sucked." Darth commented.

Xxx

**Outer Irk**

"Finally," Jana grumbled as they exited the cave, followed by Grim and Zero.

They were in the middle of Outer Irk's forests. The trees were hundreds of feet high and almost ten to twenty feet thick. Many creatures would climb them or make homes of them...supposedly primitive Irkens did once also.

"I'll drop a beacon," Grim sad. "Until then we hold position and set up camp."

Even as he spoke, he began to lay out a homing beacon, which he activated.

"It should only take a few hours until we are rescued," He sat down on a rock. "Let's all get comfy."

Xxx

And so the three Irkens made camp. Zero sat mostly isolated from Jana and Grim, sitting on the other side of a small fire Grim had started up to help signal search teams. Grim himself was sitting on his rock, his laser pistol in hand in case any wild life came calling. Jana was sitting by the tent Grim had pitched if anybody felt like sleeping, fiddling with her plasma sword.

"What are you doing with that?" Grim asked curiously.

"The plasma cell may have been compromised during the fights I had in the cave." Jana muttered. "I'm checking it." She held up a single black canister she removed from the handle. "...I was right. The magnetic field had an anomaly in it caused by this; the output of plasma was uncontrolled because of this small dent here." She tapped a part of the canister and tossed it away. "The field was being constantly adjusted to compensate for the changing amounts of plasma being focused within in. If it kept having to reshape to be bigger or smaller it would have overheated and my sword would become a hand grenade."

"You aren't going to just get it repaired?" Grim asked.

"These second hand plasma cells have a habit of exploding after they have the slightest bit of damage," Jana grumbled. "If I had my ordinary one-which Lok has I wouldn't have to replace it at all and I could show a proper technician how to build more of them-"

BOOM!

The plasma cell exploded n the bushes behind her. She sighed. "Told you so."

"So who made your original sword anyways? I've seen Lok cut apart heavy infantry or slice open a Mega Doomer with that thing." Grim moved to sit next to her.

"My master's greatest weapon smith made it, and my master gave them to me and my fellow comrades once we had proved ourselves to him." Jana explained.

"Who is your master anyways?"

"The Tallest."

"My dad never mentioned anybody like you."

"Not that Tallest."

"You worked for Red and Purple?"

"No,"

"Then which Tallest?"

"One that no longer has the slightest possibility of existing, let me just say that." Jana sighed. "You would never believe the truth...but your sister Skullene knows it already."

"You met Skullene?"

"She saved my life after Lok defeated me."

"Let me guess, she made an offer to help take on the empire?"

Jana nodded. "But before we could put any plans into action, she was captured, placed in Kill Zim, and mated with that goat, Baron." In her universe, Baron's descendants were great nuisances for the empire.

"I assume you don't like other aliens then?"

"...I tolerate them now, but I don't like to mate with them." Jana shook her head.

"You and half of our race," Grim leaned back.

Jana blushed as she looked at him. He had removed his armour and had left his coat out to dry. He now wore a simple black sleeveless shirt over his upper body and a pair of regular generic black pants and boots. They showed off his slim but powerful figure. He was like a prowling hunter, ready to pounce the moment somebody tried to take advantage of his moment of relaxation. The dull glow of the fire gave him an atmosphere that matched how she had always pictured him: enigmatic, dark, and dangerous.

"Tell me this," Grim spoke after several moments. "Have I heard of this Tallest you serve?"

Jana nodded. "Yes, most likely you have, he's especially well known even today."

"Have I met him?"

"In a manner of speaking."

"More of that puzzle talk?" Grim glared at her. "I don't suppose a direct order would make you talk, would it?"

Jana merely shook her head, not even looking at him as she replaced the plasma cell in her sword and activated it. "I'll let your sister tell you, because I'll never say his name again."

_Her_ Tallest Zim was long dead before he even was supposed to rise.

Xxx

End of chapter


	9. Chapter 9

A Dark Power

OCs in this are property of Zim'sMostLoyalServant, ngreay651, zombiefear101, and BloddyRosePettles.

IZ is owned by Jhonen Vasquez.

Xxx

**Episode Eight: The Battle Escalates**

**Lebinine II**

Arnor fired his pistol again as he retreated down the hall way. Behind him, Envon supported Rik, who was firing one pistol back at Tantax as they retreated. Tantax sneered, absorbing the energy of the bolt into his hand and extinguishing it. The former Irken General then leaped up and shot a telekinetic blast, blowing away the wall above the doors just as Envon shut them. Tantax leaped through and landed between the Irkens.

"Aw _shoo-shen,_" Arnor was the first to have his gun up and fired.

Xxx

Melva coughed as she laid three floors below where the fight had begun. The floors beneath the senate chamber had been weakened by massive fire fights and the current one going on. She was sitting in the middle of a small hole that was quickly filling up with a black liquid. She whimpered as her left leg burned with pain. It was broken, no doubt. Her right one was fine.

"Aw just perfect," She tried shaking some of the oily substance off of her, but found it stuck like tar...and kept _her_ stuck like tar too.

"Aw _caragash!_" She grasped the edge of the hole and tried to haul herself out of the liquid, which was up to her waist now.

"Help! Rik! Envon! Help!" She screamed as the liquid went up past her chest and still would not release her.

She was going to drown in this infernal tar! It was humiliating to even think about, and Melva was more focused on just trying to get the florp out of this mess.

But then the tar rose up and over her, engulfing her after she managed to suck in a deep breath and held it. She tried activating her spider legs, and managed to get them out of the tar, but they could not pull her out, it was like for every ounce of pressure they used to pull her up, there was twice as much holding her down.

Then it began to seep in around her eyes, through her sealed lips and clenched teeth...staining everything within black and leaving her eyes a shade of jet black as she slowly managed to rise out of the pool, which went from being as thick as tar to being as light as water.

She growled as a sudden anger took over.

Xxx

Arnor found himself being slammed into a wall head first when Tantax successfully managed to grab him with his telekinetic powers. As he collapsed, Tantax casually flicked a wrist at Rik, who had pushed Envon aside and was sent flying through the doors Envon shut. Envon got in close as Tantax faced him, raising his hand for another strike...

And before they could meet, the floor between them exploded. Envon was thrown on his back as a figure leaped out of the hole. Melva growled as she stood up. "I broke my florping leg because of you!"

Envon saw blood stains on her left pant leg, but her leg looked otherwise intact. Then he saw her eyes...which were dark as night. What little of her uniform that was not black now was, and she was no longer the slightly care free soldier he knew her to be.

"You absorbed the Shard under the building?" Tantax stared at her. "Well damn...looks like I may have to get my hands dirty."

"Shard?" Envon glanced at Melva, who snarled and shot her hands out.

Energy crackled in her right hand, glowing bright red. She shot a chain of lightning at Tantax, who flicked one hand and formed a dome shield around himself. The lightning crackled, taking chunks out of the floor and walls and making Envon dodge several close calls. Melva then lunged at Tantax, her hands crackling, glowing red with the same energy she had fired.

"Yes!" Tantax laughed as though he was playing a game. Swiftly dodging each attack she made, he let her slam him into a wall, but grabbed her wrists as she tried to claw his face. "Let the Dark Power guide you! It is giving you powers beyond anything you or your empire could comprehend!"

Melva responded with a fierce uppercut that launched him into the ceiling...and through it. She pursued him, trailing red sparks behind her as she went.

"Aw florp!" Envon deployed his PAK legs and pursued them.

Melva and Tantax were exchanging both blows and super powered attacks. Melva caused computers to overload and explode while Tantax shattered windows while trying to counter Melva. Envon in the mean time was trying not to get caught in the cross fire while firing off a few shots of his own at Tantax.

Melva was moving on all fours now, moving like a spider across the ceiling and walls. She launched herself off of the ceiling and slammed into Tantax, who seemed to catch her in his arms, protecting himself with a thin layer of shielding that tried to absorb and reshaped the electricity she released to use it against her. She clawed at him, but he didn't seem affected, he seemed amused infact.

Up until Envon got behind him, holding two long pieces of metal-the remains of a set of spider legs from one of the Irken soldiers he found scattered through the room, which seemed to be a lounge complete with monitors and couches. It seemed this room was where Arnor and Gor's escorts had been staying in until the invasion. Envon jammed the two pieces deep into Tantax's shoulder blades.

He grunted, his old weakening as some of the nerves his PAK connected to became shredded. Melva took this chance and kneed him in the groin, following up with a downward blow to the top of Tantax's head. This knocked him to the ground, leaving the two loyalists standing over him.

"Melva, enough!" Envon grasped her arms as she tried to lunge at Tantax to finish him off. "We're bringing him in to be questioned."

"NO! He has to die!" Melva snarled, her teeth bared-no longer zipper shaped but as sharp as blades. She tried to reach out and grab Tantax, who was struggling to rise despite his wounds.

But then she saw a door on the other side of Tantax open. Envon, trying to keep her from killing Tantax had his back to it, but she saw one of Tantax's soldiers peek in and raise his plasma gun.

Melva shoved Envon aside and fired a stream of electricity at the new threat. It struck him, and he barely had time to scream before he exploded into a shower of blood and meat.

Melva scoffed. "Hah! Now I-urk!" She fell to her knees, hands on her stomach. "I...ah...aaaaaAAAAAUUUGGGHHHH!" She threw up a stream of black liquid that pooled on the floor and moved as one across the corpses to a hole in a wall showing the plaza below.

Envon, his eyes almost popping out of their sockets watched as the liquid then turned into a bright light that almost seared his eyes into ashes. It shot into the sky and vanished.

"No! Damn it!" Tantax growled. "She killed too soon! Too soon!"

"What does it matter to you?" Envon hauled Tantax up. "Tell me about the Dark Shard! What the hell did it do to-"

"Melva!" Envon glanced behind him and saw Tibix and E just climbing up through a nearby window. Tibix was the one who shouted. He was looking at Melva, who was lying on her side, not moving.

Tantax took advantage of this and shoved Envon away. He then flicked one hand, and a knife landed in Envon's left shoulder. Envon cried out, more in shock than in pain and stumbled back. His free hand came up, and fired his gun at Tantax. Tibix joined in, firing two shots from his rifle.

Tantaxt tried to catch every shot as Envon, Tibix and E began to close in on him, their rate of fire increasing. Rik managed to climb up through the hole Melva made and hastily drew his blaster pistols. The sphere of plasma that Tantax was gathering grew bigger and bigger ,but he was surrounded on two sides, with Envon, Tibix and E on one and Rik on the other.

In the end, he chose to fire it at the former. Envon cursed, scooped up Melva into his arms, and leaped aside. E slammed into Tibix and sent them both tumbling out a window next to them. E caught the ledge with one hand, holding onto Tibix with the other. The sphere of plasma, the size of a Voot Cruiser blew another hole into the Senate building's outer wall.

Tantax rushed to this new exit as one of his drop ships floated close to it. "A good fight! But I'll never talk, _Prince_ Envon! Do yourself a favour and stay in the throne room from now on-"

Envon replied with a single laser that spun Tantax around. It caught him off guard, but Tantax merely growled and leaped across the gap between him and the transport. He landed through an open hatch, sealing it behind him.

The craft, along with multiple others began to take off; taking what was left of the tens of thousands of soldiers that had surrounded the unarmed ten million civilians. The FLBMs The Setepia had launched shot several out of the air, but many made it to orbit and boarded the Levask, which began to flee the system. The Setepia fired for as long as it could, cutting through armour and shielding until the enemy ship vanished in a flash of light.

"_Admiral, the enemy vessel has escaped."_ Tenn reported. _"Shall we pursue?"_

"Negative, signal the Defence Fleet to move in for rescue operations and relief efforts." Envon looked over the ruins of the capital city of Lebinine II. "Whatever Tantax came for...it cost us a lot of innocent lives."

Xxx

**Outer Irk**

When Grim awoke, he felt something was wrong. He opened one eye and scanned the camp site. His weapons and armour? Check. Poncho? Check. Tent and supplies? Check. Jana sleeping on his chest? Check-

The brakes went on in his head. 'Wait...Jana?'

He looked down at the snoozing Irken. She was curled up tightly on her side, partially lying on his chest, her head resting in the crook of his arm. Despite being asleep, she still seemed on guard and ready to leap up and rip an opponent a new ass.

But a second later Grim realized what was _not_ there: Zero!

"Zero?" He whispered, looking around. "Zero?"

"Hm? What's wrong?" Jana yawned...and blushed dark green as she realized that during the night she had snuggled up to the second eldest Prince of the Irken Empire.

"Zero's gone!" Grim replied, reaching for his scythes.

"What?" Jana leaped to her feet, searching the camp for the clone. She peeked inside the tent and found an empty sleeping bag. "_Kisgaree shoo-shen!_"

"Wait, look," Grim tapped her shoulder and pointed. "A trail."

Jana followed his line of sight and saw trampled leaves and branches. She nodded and drew her plasma sword, but kept it inactive as she activated her Stealth Generator.

"Follow it, try and find her," Grim instructed.

"Yes my prince," Forgetting the awkward moment-which no doubt made a smeet die somewhere Jana plunged into the dense foliage, being careful not to make much noise or cause anything to move around. Grim followed behind, scythes in hand.

Xxx

"She's real feisty!" Captain Vanderlu grunted as she and the Vortken mercenary struggled to carry a bound and gagged Zero through the forest.

"Yes, vell if she is vurth a million credits, zen I'll put up vith it." The Vortken said evenly.

During their trek through the wilderness of Outer Irk, Vanderlu actually learned the Vortken's name-or at least his code name: Wraith. It seemed to match him considering his skills and personality, it sounded just as enigmatic a he really was. But Vanderlu knew enough about him that she already knew he was one of the Dark Zealots that popped up all over as of late. On the ship Eder owned, she found him in prayer to his pagan deity or whatever the hell this 'Dark Power' was. Eder did not claim to serve the Dark Power like Wraith did, but that left to question something. Why would Wraith, no doubt a highly talented Dark Zealot, a member of a cult that has invaded two planets already be out here helping Eder collect a clone?

"So tell me, what's a Darky like you doing here?" Vanderlu chose the absolute _worst_ time to satisfy her curiosity.

"Ze cause vequires funding," Wraith shrugged. "I do my part, as do ze ozer operatives dispatched into zis galaxy."

"Yeah, invading planets and killing billions must dry up your wallet a lot." Vanderlu muttered as Zero landed a good kick to her side. Annoyed, Wraith growled and slammed Zero's head into a tree. The clone went limp in their grasp.

Wraith chuckled. "Finally, ze copy shuts her lips."

"You just said you didn't mind!" Vanderlu exclaimed.

"I said I vould tolerate her, I never said I did not mind her. And she used up vhat little patience I had left." Wraith corrected her...right before Zero let out a frustrated snarl-having faked being knocked cold by the blow and head butted Wraith in the face with the back of her head.

Wraith yelped and dropped her. Zero kicked Vanderlu again and got her feet free. She growled, glaring at the two of them, her hands tied behind her.

Wraith activated his plasma saw. "Oh zis is ridiculous! Let's just cut off a few limbs and see if she is so defiant zen!"

But before he could make good on his threat, a large form landed between him and his target and delivered a savage uppercut to his chin. Vanderlu was so caught off guard she was on the ground before she knew what was happening. Two seconds after her saviour arrived, Zero was swept off her feet and cradled in his large arms. He made her look tiny and petite in comparison-he was almost as tall as Envon! But he did not share his slender build; he was more muscular than most Irkens.

His red eyes looked down at her. "It is alright, you are safe with me...Zero."

Zero swallowed. "Define safe."

Xxx

**Earth**

"Left hand," Skoodge said.

"And I say you're nuts, right hand!" Carlos argued.

"LEFT!" Skoodge shouted.

"RIGHT!"

"What are you two morons arguing over now?" Dib asked as he came down the stairs to his living room. "And what are you doing in my house?"

"...because...we're...bored?" Carlos guessed.

"And you have a brand new TV." Skoodge pointed at the TV, which was playing a mixed martial arts tournament.

"Hey big head, we're having a bit of a disagreement," Carlos said. "Can you come over and-"

"I saw what happened to the last guy who got into a 'left hand/right hand' argument on the Massive." Dib rolled his eyes. His right hand glowed blue, and a can of soda flew out of the kitchen and into his palm. He leaped, flipping over in mid air and landed on the couch without spilling a drop. He changed the channel to Mysterious Mysteries.

"Hey, I was watching that!" Carlos whined.

"My roof, my TV." Dib grinned.

"No, it's _my_ TV." Suddenly a set of tentacles tossed Dib off the couch, letting Gaz sit down and change it to a show about video games.

"Heh, she's almost as good a TV thief as Kurt's mom is." Carlos chuckled.

"What else does she steal anyways?" Dib asked.

"What doesn't she steal little big headed dude?" Carlos replied. "She's a compulsive thief and when she tried therapy she stole the therapist's notes...and her shoes...and her moose." He sniffed. "I liked that moose."

"SQUEAK!"

"AH!" Dib, Carlos, and Kurt spun-Kurt causing another block hole to open above Gaz...and then let out a squeal of fear and shut as she glared up at it.

Standing-er...floating before them was Minimoose.

"The moose!" Carlos cheered.

"Squeak!"

"What's that boy?" Carlos leaned in. "The galaxy is under attack by a crazy cult? Go get help moosey!"

"...Squeak." Minimoose looked at Dib.

"Zim sent you? Man, never thought I'd have a friendly call from Zim of all people." Dib said, amazed. "What is it?"

Minimoose's eyes projected an image of Zim.

"Greetings humans...and big headed one-"

"Hey!

"Oh relax Dib I'm just pushing your buttons-oh and this message is interactive," Zim said.

"How can a recorded message be interactive?" Dib asked.

"**Response not found.**" Zim replied in an automated, computerized voice.

"...oh."

"Anyways, we have a big problem forming out here. Two planets have been invaded by a cult...well more like an entire army." Zim said. "They've threatened to invade more planets that do not bow to their will and I may need somebody who can think outside the box. That means you, the Carlos-Maniac, Kurt, Gaz-Sister, Sophie, and Melissa...and hopefully the Swollen Eye Balls also."

"How could we help? The Eye Balls only have twenty ships made." Dib said.

"What did I just say about 'outside the box' you moron?" The program demanded.

"Ok, jeez!"

"Now look, just respond to this message and I'll dispatch a ship you pick you up and leave a disk containing the necessary data for your organization to properly prepare for this cult." Zim continued. "I await your response. Tallest Zim, out!" He vanished.

"Well it looks like the Evil Alien Dudes need our help!" Carlos grinned.

"You know they're not actually evil, right?" Gaz looked up.

"Yeah but it feels good to say it." Carlos shrugged. "But we should be careful, The Carlos has warned me that something is definitely not right on this one." He rubbed his chin. "There is a definite disturbance in the Carlos."

Suddenly a window smashed and something ht Carlos in the face. "...and that's where the Disturbance comes in."

Dib picked up the rock that had hit Carlos and untied the note attached to it. "Dear Carlos and Kurt, we of the Order of Darkness are very much aware of your destructive potential and wish to recruit you into our ranks. If you accept, the treasures of the Dark Power will be at your disposal."

A second rock hit Carlos in the face. "Ow!"

Dib read the second note attached to it. "Ran out of space on Note 1. If you do not accept, you shall join the other peons as they slowly rot in the oblivion we shall plunge this galaxy into after we are finished adding its people to our numbers."

And then a brick hit Carlos in the face. "OW! They've got to run out of stuff to throw at my face eventually!"

Dib read the third note. "We ran out of rocks, but here's a brick. Decide now or we shall destroy the house you...are...in?" He looked out the window...and saw an alien space ship looming over the city. It was pitch black and essentially a ten mile long, horizontal cylinder with a diameter of nearly half a kilometre. And on what seemed to be the top section of the, the hull rose to form the command deck.

And on the front lawn stood dozens of aliens soldiers.

"..." Dib looked at the group. "How did we not notice that until now?"

"More like how didn't we not fail to not notice that we hadn't noticed it." Carlos replied.

"...Wha?"

"Ah forget it, time to kick ass." Carlos said. "Kurt! Let's go!"

Kurt nodded and kicked the front door open. The two leaped out...and unleashed Armageddon on the alien invaders.

"Come on Gaz! The battle for Earth has actually come this time!" Db declared...only to find Gaz walking downstairs to the emergency bunker. "Doh!"

"Come on Dib!" Sophie shouted. "We have to get out there!"

As she spoke, Melissa joined Kurt and her boy friend on the front lawn, firing lightning into the fray.

All over Earth, jets fought against Dark fighters. The alien fighters had no shielding of their own, so it was easy for a single missile or a lot of bullets to bring them down ,but their lasers could carve up four or five air craft before being brought down. The larger gunships and shuttles however had shielding that could stand almost two minutes of continuous fire. And the other twelve ships-matching the first one over Dib's house were impossible to bring down with even nuclear weapons or lasers.

In the end, Agent Dark Booty sent the order from the Swollen Eye Balls' secret base on Mars.

Xxx

**Mars, Swollen Eye Ball Mars Branch**

**SENSC (Swollen Eye Ball Space Corps) Dock**

"Our divisions on Earth have contacted the UN," Agent Tuna Ghost said, speaking to the group through a communicator. "But we're losing badly on most fronts. Anything within ten miles of those capital ships is shot down! We're having better luck with their armies and fighter groups. We need assistance retaking air space over the American East Coast. The ship there has the biggest foot hold."

"Where are you right now?" Agent Nessie asked.

"I'm in one of our outposts in New York, I'm heading down to Agent Mothman's sector soon. That is where it is." Tuna Ghost replied. "We need the fleet to launch!"

"We do not know if our combined fleet could take on even one of those." Agent Dark Booty pointed out. "And our ground based artillery has no effect."

"Our ground based artillery can barely fire one salvo before being blown away!" Tuna Ghost snapped. "We need something that can take down these ships or they'll be able to wipe out everything on the East Coast by midnight!"

The gathered Eye Balls looked to their leader.

"...alright, deploy the fleet." Agent Dark Booty said grimly. "And get out some of that reverse engineered Irken technology we've been testing in the Kola Peninsula. Agent Colossus will gladly ship several to the capital ship over Moscow. See if the long range artillery has some effect. If this thing is anything like an Irken ship it will only take a few salvos."

"Yes sir!"

"And get me in contact with Moth Man; we'll need an expert on extraterrestrial tactics and how to counter them." Dark Booty ordered. "And deploy one of our smaller ships, set a course for any trade lane outside of our solar system, have them send a message out...we'll definitely need some help here."

Xxx

End of chapter


	10. Chapter 10

A Dark Power

Xxx

**Episode Nine: Dark Reapers**

**Earth, Sector M (Agent Mothman's Sector)**

**4 Hours since Alien Landing**

The downtown district was mostly abandoned now except for soldiers fighting off alien invaders. They found that their standard rifles were reasonably effective on the aliens, who needed about a dozen rounds or so to take down. So soldiers were advised to take careful shots when they engaged the invaders, who seemed to number in the tens of thousands and had established a base in the middle of the city.

No air craft could get near the downtown district, not even evac choppers, so citizens had to escape on foot. As larger groups of soldiers set up blockades to keep the enemy from advancing, platoons were sent in to slowly squeeze their enemy of manoeuvring space.

What was most eerie was the lack of activity in the usually bustling metropolis.

A squadron of five human National Guardsmen had been left by their platoon commander. Two of them were perched on some abandoned trucks, the third was patrolling back and forth along their designated 'blockade line'; and the other two were looking at their radio.

"Alright...Fifth Squad, Baker Platoon reporting in." The squad leader said out loud into the mike. He glanced at the operator and continued. "Blocked Line 9 is secure, over."

"Hm...hey, I got something," The radio operator spoke up.

"_KSSSSHHHHHH...-amn it! Fall back! Get moving!_" The soldiers heard gun shots over the radio link. _"This is Baker Platoon! We are under attack by unknown hostiles! I have eight dead and-watch out! No!"_

The link went silent.

"_Holy shit! Somebody get over there!"_ The call came from

"Come on! Wade, off the truck, you're coming with me!" The Squad Leader shouted, grabbing his FN-SCAR. "The rest of you, stay here!"

The two humans moved down the nearest alley and then down the street, further towards the areas taken by the invading army where Baker Platoon had set up.

"_Where are they?"_

"_Aw god they're all dead!"_

"_Their Stryker is in one piece, bring that thing back!"_

Just as the two guardsmen moved around a bus that covered most of the street, the screams and gun fire picked up again.

"_Contact! Contact! They're back!"_

They saw them, fifty yards away. A pair of Humvees were torn to pieces with dead soldiers around them. A large APC was left intact, with four soldiers firing on an unseen attacker as they backed away from an alley.

"What the hell is going on?" The second guardsmen, Wade asked.

"Sh!" The squad leader pushed him against the side of the bus. "Stay down!"

A moment later one soldier fell, screaming as his legs were severed from his body. The other three men fired on the general area in front of the soldier...and their shots made squirts of black blood spray the pavement. Slowly, something shimmered into life. It stood at over seven feet in height, and its hands were massive claws. It was clad in dark armoured plates over dark gray robes, and a hood covered a red face plate. The bullets had gotten between the plates of armour, but the creature did not seem affected.

It shot forward, and the nearest soldier managed to duck under the massive creature's claws. He bravely slammed the butt of his rifle across its face...and the weapon shattered in his hands.

"We've gotta help them, check your clip!" The Squad Leader ordered before rushing out into view, followed by Wade.

They knelt and fired their rifles, spraying the creature with short bursts. The three soldiers backed away from it as it focused on Wade and his CO.

"Fall back! Fall back!" The squad leader shouted.

"Thanks man!" The unarmed soldier called as he and his companions rushed by-he paused to pick up another rifle. "We'll cover your retreat!"

"Wade, move back!" The Squad leader patted Wade's shoulder.

The Creature was moving closer, seemingly unstoppable against the dozens of bullets they put into it. Wade, who's rifle was empty anyways followed the retreating team. The Squad leader, not wasting time reloading tossed his rifle aside as the Creature lunged at him. He fired his pistol three times right before it disembowelled him, spilling his intestines onto the sidewalk. He gasped, turning pale as blood flowed from his mouth. He took two steps back, and then collapsed, watching as the creature began to walk past him, pursuing Wade and the survivors.

He knew he was dying, but maybe he could make himself useful at least. He slowly withdrew one of his grenades and triggered it. He grabbed onto the creature's left boot, wrapping both arms around it and hugging himself to it as best he could. "You're not goin' anywhere...!"

It looked down at him, tilting its head as though confused. Then a deep chuckled came from it.

"Fool...that won't kill me."

BOOM!

The man was blown apart, and the creature was sent flying onto the top of the bus. It landed, eagle spread, and remained still, stained with the blood of the Corporal who had given his life for his men to escape.

It sighed, annoyed as it got up. The other four humans had escaped by now. It slowly reached up and wiped some gore off of its visor. "Like I told you...that won't kill me."

"No, but this will!"

TSEW!

Suddenly a laser hit the alien in the visor and sent it flying off of the bus. It slammed into the abandoned APC and crushed it under its weight. When it looked up again, it was a small figure held up by spider legs land on the bus.

Skoodge was holding a large bazooka sized weapon on one shoulder. He folded his spider legs back up. "This planet is under the Empire's protection!"

"What do I care for a pathetic hierarchy like the Irken Empire?" The creature stood up again, undamaged by the attack. "I am indestructible, all thanks to the limitless strength and mercy of the Dark Power."

"I'll show you! My Tallest will send a fleet anytime now to kick your butts!" Skoodge shouted.

"You are quite brave for one so small." The creature brushed aside its tattered robes. "I like that in an Irken, some true bravery, knowing when you should or shouldn't fight. Let us see how long it lasts."

It then crossed the distance in long strides, claws spread out on either side of it. Skoodge yelped and fired his weapon, which released a long stream of green energy. The creature's hands slammed together, seemingly catching the beam...which did not even push it back. Skoodge's eyes widened as it slowly moved closer and closer to him.

"What the florp are you?"

"I...am...a..._Dark Reaper!_" Then it crushed the end of Skoodge's weapon in its hand.

Skoodge swallowed and squeaked. "_Cold Unfeeling Robot Arm._"

The Dark Reaper chuckled. "Time to die, little Irken."

"I don't think so!"

The Dark Reaper looked up and saw Dib Membrane stepping up to the bus, hands folded behind his back and a smirk on his face. "Step away from the fat Irken, alien scum!"

"Hey!" Skoodge whined.

The Dark Reaper laughed. "A tiny human with a big head? Now I have seen everything!"

"My head isn't big!" Dib shouted. "But it does have a lot in it...let me show you just what's in it!" He then raised his hands. "Skoodge! Out of the way!"

Skoodge obeyed, and then the air shimmered in front of Dib, who used his powers to call on the Black Hole Zim had found in his head-which is big despite what Dib would say and argue. The black hole was small, but the vacuum it sent out was powerful. The Dark Reaper found itself being slowly dragged towards it inch by inch. Grunting, it jammed its claws into the bus roof...but the bus was being dragged towards the black hole next.

"Nothing escapes a black hole!" Dib shouted. "Not air, not gravity, not time, and not you!"

The Dark Reaper growled as it dragged itself along the bus away from the black hole. "The Dark Power...defeats...all!" It stood and raised its hands. The Black Hole, a perfect dot of pitch black space the size of a basket ball suddenly began to waver and twist.

"Huh? What are you doing?" Dib blinked, confused by what was happening.

"You humans have such short sight!" The Dark Reaper laughed. "The Dark Power does not know your laws of physics, and t certainly is beyond time and gravity! Your black hole is a mere shadow of its power ,now watch!"

Suddenly...the black hole began to collapse in on itself, slowly, until nothing was left of it, not even a spec. Dib stared, wide eyed at his now non-existent black hole. "My black hole! NO!"

The Dark Reaper laughed, standing up. "What shall you do now, big headed one?"

"Hey! Only I make fun of Comrade big Head!"

"Oh what s it now?" The now thoroughly annoyed Dark Reaper turned...just in time to take a punch to the visor from Carlos. The punch sent the Dark Reaper flying head over heels.

"Hah! You just got Carlos'd!" Carlos cheered.

"...you broke my..." As the Dark Reaper, climbing to its feet spoke, the visor fell off, and the filtered voice became clear...and feminine. With most of the robes and armour having been damaged enough to fall off, the Dark Reaper's figure became much clearer...and curvy. "Mask you florping monkey."

A female Irken with gray eyes glared at the fighters. She let what was left of her armour fall, leaving her in a black and brown attire under the gray robes. She wore a pair of thigh high black boots with cloven metal tips, black tight pants, a loose brown tunic that reached to just above where her boots reached, and brown leather gloves. She had light armoured components-not metal but made of a light material meant to absorb blaster fire. She stretched a bit, and then coldly stared at Carlos. "...So you're one of the promising ones we were sent to recruit," She looked at Skoodge and Dib. "You two are not so defenceless either..."

"Who the eff is this?" Carlos scratched his head in confusion.

"My name...is Viliae," The Dark Reaper donned an eerie smirk, baring her teeth at them. "And I have gone into the embrace of Darkness and returned with powers beyond anything you could ever imagine!"

"..." Carlos snapped his fingers. "Oh my god it's Anita Blake!"

Dib and Skoodge stared at him.

"Spontanious new powers? Crappy dialogue?" Carlos asked.

"I actually like the first few books," Dib replied.

"Uh guys?" Skoodge pointed at Viliae.

"What?" Both humans replied.

"Too late."

Viliae had gathered a sphere of red energy into her hands and slammed it into the ground in front of the three, sending them flying back. Carlos, who was lying upside down against a wall, looked at her. "Hm...me thinks we need a new plan comrades."

"Why yes, yes we do." Dib nodded. "RUN AWAY!" He and Skoodge shot off, with Carlos not far behind.

Viliae chuckled. "Oh Lok I should thank you for this!"

Xxx

**Zedia II**

"Well, at least the town has some nice people in it." Nick said as he stumbled into the shop, straightening his bandanna.

"You stopped by the Zedian Shade club, didn't you?" Lok teased him, sitting at the front counter, one sleeve rolled up as Drosco examined a computer attached to Lok's arm by small wires.

"Yeah, and apparently they like 'gentlemen with guns'." Nick quoted some of the dancers. "I'm just glad nothing happened to make my wife kill me."

"Ah don't worry hun, whatever happens on Zedia II, stays on Zedia II." Drosco said, tapping the screen of his computer. "Except Scloopian Scourge, that stuff sticks with you if you're not Irken."

"Well, how's the scan going?" Darth asked from one of the seats, reading a magazine of Meekroobian Daily.

"Well I managed to isolate a small fraction of the material," Drosco said, and whistled. "Wow, this stuff...it's not any known substance in the entire galaxy, and this thing's updated to include a list of every civilization's periodic tables of elements. I'm running an advanced scan to try and isolate different atoms within it...okay, each part of it is made up of seven atoms of substance A with positive charges of 3 each, 3 atoms of substance B with negative 7 each, and two unknown amounts of Substance C and D." The screen displayed four different panels indicating each element in the Compound that made up the Dark Shard. "Let me run a few simulated reactions between some of these and other materials." Each panel showed a reaction of the four elements with several listed reactants in the database.

Drosco flinched. "Uh...wow...this is freaky."

"Freaky-freaky or Bad-Freaky?" Lok asked.

"Kinda both," Drosco showed them the screen. "Sodium." The Sodium was absorbed into each element and seemed to vanish. "Potassium." The same thing. "Silver nitrate." Drosco went through dozens of compounds and elements. "But I found one different reaction between Element A and a human element, an allotrope of the element Phosphorus, White Phosphorous."

It showed the reaction...and Element A instead began to break apart.

"Now run this on the whole compound..."

It showed the entire compound falling apart after Element A vanished in reaction to the white phosphorous. "Breaks it apart to its basic elemental components, if I'm right you'd have just powder left of it."

"A robotics expert and a chemist also?" Darth's antennae tilted.

"You need a lesson in chemistry to know about the materials of robotic components, fuel, and other necessary materials." Drosco shrugged. "I also ran a few tests outside of chemical reactions. Try this: the basic plasma energy released from any old laser."

It showed the Dark Shard compound breaking down.

"Fire." Same reaction.

"A dramatic increase in heat." No reaction. "Now a dramatic increase in heat equivalent to locking somebody in a metal box in the middle of the Zedian Desert." The Compound broke down. "Heat is the primary weakness, causes it to get more excited and break apart. But then I added the possibility of Lok's flesh, muscle, and organs being added into the reaction and..." It showed an image of an Irken's outline slowly breaking down into a small puddle. "So whatever that stuff is, you might want to draw it out of you before you consider getting rid of it."

"Who says I have to?" Lok asked. "This stuff gave me super powers! It let me beat Grash. Guys, this is a good thing!"

"I don't like the sound of this 'Dark Shard' Lok," Darth stated. "We should be cautious about it."

"Oh come on, it was just a few morons and Grash bragging! I'll be fine with this." Lok assured them. "Watch, when we get back to Irken space, next time we run into trouble I'll kick some serious ass without going over the line."

"I trust you Lok," Darth nodded. "I'm just hesitant to trust the Shard itself, because I know nothing about it."

"Well it seems to be non-reactant to emotional changes, but physical stress does seem to cause it to uh..." Drosco poked Lok on the arm, and the material on the screen spread out. "Tense, like its expecting an attack."

"So this crap is alive or something?" Lok asked.

"If I had a sample I could look at with my own two eyes I could help more," Drosco shrugged.

Lok sighed; removing the wire from his arm and lowering his sleeves back down. "Thanks anyways."

"You're not going already, are you?" Drosco asked sadly.

"I'll stick around a bit, but I have to deliver Chancellor Darth," Lok looked at Darth. "I'm late as it is, I can make an excuse that I stopped for a distress call when I stopped to find the source of what made Mr Bonkers go nuts."

"You still have Mr Bonkers?"

"Yep, don't go anywhere without my giant mutated rat demon." Lok nodded.

"Hm...hey, business is practically non-existent here anyways! And I'm getting so bored," Drosco said. "There's not a cute guy who isn't taken on the whole planet! Can I come with you guys?"

"Ooh, it would be like old times!" Lok grinned. "Can he come guys? Can he? Can he? Can he?" He hopped up and down like a child.

"Yeah, can I come? Can? Can I? Can I?" Drosco mimicked Lok.

Darth sighed. "Fine."

"Yay!" Lok and Drosco hugged.

"I swear Lok acts like such a child sometimes." Darth groaned.

"Aw come on Darth, they're so happy together." Nick said.

"I'd drop the subject at that f I could see them but-oh lo and behold, I'm blind, so let's go!" Darth stood up. "For all we know there could be these Shards popping up all over the galaxy and while we're in this back water system Irk could have been invaded by now-"

BOOM!

"...or _we_ could be getting invade." Darth slapped himself in the face.

Lok looked out the window and saw a single ship the size of the settlement flying down from the clouds, dropping bombs. "We'd better skip the bar and head for the Omni-Hunter, this is a big problem!"

Xxx

**Outer Irk**

"...and after that Purple had sent me to rot in a cell," Six finished his story as he cleared away more bushes.

"All because you saw me?" Zero asked, walking alongside him, her hands free.

"Apparently I was too much of a risk, supposedly I might have exposed the fact that they were cloning Skullene. It's illegal to clone outside of a traditional Smeetery." Six explained as they reached a clearing where his escape pod had crashed.

He reached in and grabbed a basic survival pack. He passed it to Zero. "Eat, you'll need it."

Zero looked at the pack, and hesitantly opened it and munched on the salt like substance within it. It provided essential nutrients for a soldier in the field and was not too bad for the taste buds. She finished the bag quickly and wiped her chin. "Thanks."

"I guessed being trapped in that pod for most of your life would take a toll on you." Six stated.

"Yeah...how did you know me anyways?" Zero asked.

Six sighed, setting down on the top of the pod. "Years ago I was the personal body guard of Tallest Purple. It wasn't just because of my height, but because I was-_am_ the best fighter in the Elite Guard."

"And they really needed some better training judging from the last memory down load I was given," Zero mumbled.

"Exactly," Six smirked. "I could take on the entire Elite Guard of the days of Red and Purple. I was perfect for them...except I knew how to speak for myself. They overlooked this considering I had saved them from many assassination attempts. But when they revealed you to me...their dirty secret...they didn't feel like risking me talking about you. I was loyal without fault despite my defective state!" He hopped off of the pod. "Ever since that day they locked me away...you were the one thing on my mind. That beautiful woman trapped in a glass and metal pod, asleep until Red wanted you to rise...it haunted me and cost me many nights of sleep."

"I'm sorry," Zero mumbled. "I wasn't even self aware at that time I think."

"Oh it's quite alright!" Suddenly Zero felt a set of powerful arms around her, holding her against a solid, well built torso. She barely reached Six's neck after his growth spurts in prison and her lack of growth spurts. Six was a mere half a head shorter than Envon, so he came to be just above Grimrair's height-making him tower over her mere 5'8-stupid defective growth process. He had thicker muscles though, he looked strong enough to arm wrestle with even the mighty Sizz-Lor and stand a chance at winning. He had a collection of scars where his clothes did not cover him, but it left him looking rather good on him, like they belonged on a powerful looking Irken. If Zero compared him to Envon or Grim, it would be like comparing a feral, intelligent animal that survived by sheer talent to a graceful and trained attack dog that was taught everything and never forgot it.

She didn't doubt her-her real self's older siblings could give Six a run for his money, but everything about him screamed that he was deadly, lethal, and he'd kill her dead if she were his enemy. And right now he was hugging her.

"On the contrary, I want to thank you," Six continued. "You showed me how little the Tallest care about anything! Now I have just one wish..."

Zero's face turned dark green as he bowed to her level. "I seek myself a _mate._"

He began to lean in, his red eyes gleaming, but his expression serene and charming. Zero, unlike Skullene who had gone on to hate the idea of a relation until she met Shen, had programming built into her during her creation, to service whoever demanded it. Before she knew it, she closed the distance between them and their lips clashed, their long tongues intertwining.

Zero placed her hands on the back of Six's head and pulled herself up and closer, arching her back a bit as his arms moved to her waist.

"Mmm..." She broke the kiss. "...are you serious?"

"Wasn't a minute ago, I just wanted to see if you were as grown up as the real Skullene." Six replied.

"Did I pass?"

"Let me see..." He kissed her again, pushing her up against the pod. When he finally broke it he nodded. "Yeah."

"You know you didn't need that next one," Zero pointed out. "And I have built in mating programming...makes me less awkward around the idea of pleasure."

"Oh, well that might explain a few things." Six released her. "I should have remembered Red wanted Skullene to bed with him for a long time."

Click-_hiss_.

"But the only real reason I let you do that was because I saw them coming." Zero pointed behind Six, who came face to Grim, holding a pistol in each hand, and Jana with her laser sword in hand.

"Awkward," Six noted.

Xxx

End of chapter


	11. Chapter 11

A Dark Power

OCs in this are property of Zim'sMostLoyalServant, ngrey651, zombiefear101, and BloddyRosePettles.

IZ is property of Jhonen Vasquez.

**And I have some awesome news for you all. Recently my school has authorized a field trip to Europe next April, taking 40 students to London, Paris, Vimy Ridge, and other historical sites of interest. I'm one of the 40 or so students going! (squeals like a fan girl) I get to miss a week of school to visit my great-great uncle's grave and see places my parents always get to go to every year!**

**But it came at a cost. I was in debt to my parents for half of the trip's total cost: which was $2400 and change. So I am getting a job, ASAP, so things might go slow from now on until I pay off my debt...oh and I also owe them for a DVD and game I bought, so...about $1290 if I am right. Luckily they just took the money out of my savings account-leaving me with plenty more for college that I will repay with any jobs I manage to snatch.**

**So I'd better hurry, cuz I am a VERY impatient man. Who knows what I'll do to me if I don't hurry and pay me back for the money I owe to myself? Oh trust me, if I take too long then I'll fly off the handle, and then after I'm done with me I won't even know what hit me! (hysteric)**

**If you're in London or Paris, get ready cuz Familiar is coming to town...in 11 months..!...(awkward silence)**

**Read and Review!**

Xxx

**Episode Ten: Round Two!**

**Earth**

"We're screwed aren't we?" Dib asked as he looked down at the street below.

"Okay, we're screwed," Carlos replied, exasperated as he fiddled with a device in his hands. "And it ain't in the good way."

Below where the three fighters sat, legions of black clad soldiers marched through the streets of the city. Several air craft glided by, moving slowly and gracefully as though to rub it in as their search lights probed the dark alleys.

"What are we going to do?" Skoodge asked. "They've probably overtaken most of the city by now. What would Zim do if he was here? What would an IDIOT do?" That saying had become common ever since the former IDIOTs became the feared Lok-On-Killers.

"Well there are no IDIOTs here," Carlos declared as he stood up. "We have morons, dumb asses, bad asses, ass kickers, ass kissers, ass holes, dumb asses, dumb bells, and regular idiots. But seeing as we don't have any genuine IDIOTs here we'll have to make do with our own ideas."

"Like what?" Skoodge asked, and then his eyes fell to the device in Carlos' hands. "...oh, right."

"All I need is a nice lovely place to drop it," Carlos nodded.

"They set up a field command post not too far away," Dib suggested. "If we hit that..."

"Has your black hole recovered from its encounter with the she devil from beyond the stars?" Carlos asked.

"Yeah, took a bit but its back where it belongs." Dib nodded.

"And you found out how to convert it into a white hole, right?"

"White hole?" Skoodge glanced between the two humans. "I've been stuck here too long, care to remind me?" He then sent a wink your way to show his question was for the sake of anybody who was as clueless as he claimed to be.

"A white hole is the opposite of a black hole." Dib explained. "Black holes draw in anything and everything, but a white hole cannot be approached by anything. It releases energy and is rumoured to be one half of the method of entering alternative universes...well according to theoretical studies."

"And Comrade Big Head's black hole acts a little like...a container unless you're pulling something out." Carlos said. "Took a lot of research and I accidently got sent to the planet of the Beautiful Cannibal Women six times when I got sucked in, but we found out this much. In Big Head's gigantic head, its pull is neutralized unless you stick your hand in too deep. It acts more like a portal. But take it out, suck somebody in, put it right back into his head, take it out later, turn it into a white hole, and it shoots out the most recent thing it sucked in!"

"Wow...how does that work?" Skoodge asked.

"Skoodge, Skoodge, Skoodge," Carlos shook his head. "The Carlos knows all, but I cannot tell you now. Comrade Big Head is about to have the biggest drink in the world and I need to go give our enemy commander a surprise."

Xxx

**Ten minutes later...**

"So you're telling me that a whole _lake_ vanished?" An incredulous Dark Zealot Commander demanded of his chief scout.

"Yes sir!" The scout nodded. "On my way back through the park after checking the human blockade lines for our current assault the entire lake was gone...including the fish and plant life."

"This rock is so freaky I don't even bother asking why anything happens anymore." The Commander sighed.

"Sir we have a problem out here!" A sentry opened the door to the manager's office of the hotel that the Commander had set up his HQ in.

"Oh what is it now?" The Commander sighed.

"I had to _swim_ here to tell you about this sir."

"Great, wonderful, lovely, now-" The Commander paused as he saw the drenched alien. "Ew! You swam through a sewer? Get out of my office before you stink it up even more!"

"Not through a sewer sir! Through the _lobby!_" The sentry shook his head.

"What? Oh out of my way!" The commander shoved the sentry aside and came out onto the 5th floor mezzanine overlooking the lobby.

Down below...the first four floors were flooded, with soldiers trying to scramble out of the water. The doors below had been boarded shut with...metal girders, enough to ensure only a few squirts of water came out through the broken glass. The other doors, all made of metal were likewise boarded to the point where the many tons of water did nothing to move them.

"Who the hell is doing this to my outpost?" The Commander howled.

"We might have to consider evacuating sir, the structural integrity of the building may collapse soon!" His XO sputtered as she managed to climb over the railing, soaking wet.

"NO! NO! NO! NO!" He slammed hand down on the wooden railing repeatedly with each 'NO'. He was clearly frustrated.

"Oh yes, yes, yes, _yes_ baby." The Commander, his XO, the scout, and the sentry spun and looked inside the office to see a certain dark haired pyromaniac sitting on the desk. In his hands was a red wrapped present. "Just dropping in to leave a gift to you, commander!" He tossed the gift to the commanding alien, who was an ant man like Admiral Sket's XO. "Now I take my leave! You will remember this as the day you met the Carlos!" He stuck his hand out a window next to him and grabbed a rope that hung outside. Tugging on it once, he swung out of the window as the four aliens drew their guns and rushed inside.

They shot at him as he was pulled up and out of view. The commander growled and looked at the gift that was left for him. He began to unwrap it. Inside was a device that looked like it was made from a radio, a Mickey Mouse alarm clock, and some sort of spherical device-

"WHAT THE F-!" BOOM! "MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA! EHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Xxx

On top of the hotel, three 'guerillas' watched as the lower stories of the hotel shot out fire and steam.

"Woo! Nice!" Carlos grinned.

"Yeah!" Dib nodded. "But...aren't we right above that? Won't the building collapse?"

"We don't be ridiculous comrade Big Head!" Carlos shook his head. "This building is one hundred-" The building shifted a bit. "...percent..." It jolted, making them stumble a bit. "...safe?"

The building began to collapse in on itself.

"DAMN YOU CARLOS!" Dib's scream echoed through the city as the three fighters fell towards their doom.

Xxx

**Zedia II**

Kay jerked on the controls, making the Omni-Hunter swerve out of range of a gunboat's starboard turrets. The mercenary vessel's stronger chin gun rotated, tracking the gun boat, and shot a hole through its engines. The gun boat spiralled towards the ground and exploded near the settlement, which had Dark Zealots marching through it in the hundreds. The Colonial Guard had rerouted every unit on the continent to the settlement and was now fighting to protect the panic bunkers and the space port where the population was hiding.

"This isn't working!" Loe said urgently. "We need a plan! Come on Lok, you always have a plan!"

Lok, sitting in the command chair-and in Drosco's lap pondered his options as Drosco gently stroked his antennae. "Hm...this will require every fibre of my intelligence to overcome." He stood up off of Drosco, who pouted as Lok struck a dramatic pose. "I've got it! First we shall jury rig a highly explosive container from a combination of my own blood, Loe's favourite tea, and fuel from our engines!"

"Uh...Lok?" Kay spoke up.

"...and then after we manage to build rocket boosters using components from every blaster on board, we'll blow a hole through the hull of the enemy ship!"

"Lok." Kay raised her voice.

"...after we successfully fashion bones from Loe's skeleton, we will proceed to sneak through the ship and find the commander-"

"LOK!" Kay, a scared Loe, Darth, Nick, and Drosco shouted.

"Wha?" He looked at them.

"Why don't we just land in the empty hangar bay right there?" Kay asked, using the computer to point out the empty hangar. "It looks like this ship wasn't mean for space battles, it only carries troop transports and has a series of point defence turrets."

"...Okay let's send a boarding party!" Lok declared. "I'll lead! Who's with me?"

"I'm not staying while they slaughter innocent people down there!" The ever altruistic Nick stated, grabbing his gear.

"I need some practice anyways," Drosco winked, his robots forming into weapons on his hands.

"I'd go...but I'm not built for big fire fights." Darth shook his head.

"Let's get going then!" Lok said.

Xxx

"Heh, buncha tools, never even bothered fixing the turrets!" A mechanic grumbled as he worked on one of the turrets in the hangar the Omni-Hunter flew up alongside. "Seriously, they don't even leave some guards in here?"

The ship's air lock opened, and Lok leaped across to the open hangar. He landed far from the edge, and stood up victoriously with a smirk as Nick and Darth landed on either side of him. The yran off and the Omni-Hunter pulled away.

"Finally! It works!" The mechanic stood up, wiping grease off his chin. "No boarding parties will get past me now!"

He did not notice three Irkens already entering the bowels of the ship, having passed below the cat walk he stood on.

"Yep, another job well done in the name of Darkness!" He walked off. "Man I need a sandwich."

Xxx

**Outer Irk**

"I never would have seen all of the _caragash_ I have had to put up with in the last twelve hours," Grim ran one hand over his face. "I especially never would have thought I'd see _this._"

"I am inclined to agree with you," Jana, who sat next to Grim in the back of a small shuttle, nodded. "I know that it is legal and encouraged to mate, but I still say it is best kept to one's quarters."

"Speaking of quarters, you'll be confined to yours until you give me some answers," Grim glanced at the black clad assassin. "You knew more than you let on, and I won't let you walk away."

Jana sighed as the shuttle passed over the Outer Irk Complex. Across from the two Invaders were two other Irkens...Six with Zero in his lap, making out with the larger Irken-who made her look like a small kitten compared with a large panther. Their activities were grating on Grim's last nerve, but he knew Zero had a built in 'mating program' that encouraged her all the more to do these kinds of things...he just needed to remove the blasted software and then he could have peace of mind without flashing back to when his sister went off with Shen Baron.

The transport had reached them not long after they had confronted Six, at first demanding that he release Zero-and stop sexually assaulting her (Grim and Jana had used more colourful insults of course). After Zero had placated them into lowering their weapons, the shuttle had flown in and beamed them into its passenger hold.

"We've arrived Admiral! Have a great day!" The pilot called from the cockpit as the aft hatch opened.

"Thank you-HEY!" Grim snapped as Jana burst out of her seat and rushed for the hatch before it was even half open. She twisted and tumbled into a cartwheel, slipping between the hatch and landing on the ground outside expertly.

Grim angled himself, spreading his arms out to his side. Slipping his left arm through, he side stepped through the door without even touching it a mere blink of the eye after Jana was outside. The assassin was already sprinting across the air field, passing surprised Irkens.

"Little minx," He muttered as he pursued her through the structures of the base.

Jana suddenly leaped on top of an APC that was cruising over a road. The gunner looked through the dome on the top at her, confused as he watched her leap onto the roof of a nearby building. A second later Admiral Grimrair followed by.

Jana was circling back to the air field, heading for a hangar where she could grab a ship and escape before she was dragged before her former Tallest and made to admit what a failure she was-

Suddenly as she leaped over to the hangar, something slammed into her in mid air. She yelped before her face was pressed against something.

CRASH!

Grim, who had leaped after Jana and snatched her out of the air, grunted as his back hit the dumpster below. Jana looked at him, stunned. He had angled them so he would land under her and soften the landing for her. She blushed a bit when he opened one eye and looked at her.

"Are you alright?"

Suddenly ten guns were locked on Jana by security guards.

"Yes and no," Her antennae drooping, Jana didn't try to resist as Grim got up, holding her under one arm to keep her from running. Humiliated, she let herself be carried off.

Xxx

**Earth**

"Damn it Carlos!" Dib growled as the their made their way out of the rubble.

"Why is everything automatically my fault?" An offended Carlos demanded.

"Whose idea was it to blow up the hotel?" Dib snapped.

"Whose idea was it to mess around with ectoplasm and get their ass stuck in the ceiling?" Carlos shot back.

"Uh...guys?" Skoodge asked.

"Whose idea was it to burn everything in sight?" Dib and Carlos were face to face now, Liberty and Insanity clashing.

"Whose idea was it to try and cut open every friendly alien in sight?" Carlos replied.

"Guys?"

"Whose idea was it to not run to a shelter?"

"Whose idea was it to use a black hole on a physics defying monster?"

"GUYS!"

"WHAT?" They both glared at Skoodge.

"Look!" He pointed up.

The enemy flag ship was moving away from their area of the city, pursued by ships. They were the S.E.N.S.C ships! The three ships had small, sleek, white fighters (think like the human fighters from Dib's Wonderful Life of doom) were chasing it, lasers gouging into its hull. Several regular air force jets were joining in, firing off missiles, the only thing they had that could damage the ship.

"They're pulling out, we've won!" Skoodge cheered.

"Nope," Carlos shook his head. "Too easy...I think they're just moving somewhere because the ydropped off what they needed."

"What?"

"Think Skoodge," Dib said. "They must have dropped off tens of thousands of solders and battalions of tanks and mechs here. They could take over the city if they worked enough. I think that thing is just moving to the next city."

"Clever deduction."

They spun as Villiae stepped out of the ruins.

"You again? Aw snap!" Carlos groaned.

"Your ship left without you. Burns, doesn't it?" Dib sneered.

"I still have my powers," Villiae grinned. "For one, I can turn your demonic friend _into a card board cut out!_"

She grabbed Carlos ,who stiffened...and she held up a perfect wooden card board cut out of him.

"CARLOS!" Both Skoodge and Dib shouted.

Skoodge pointed an accusing finger at Villiae, and declared. "When...I...skip...through the forests! I skip...through..." He groaned under some sort of strain. "BURGER PATTIES!"

"And I can make the fat one speak gibberish!" Villiae laughed maliciously.

"I have no idea what the florp I was even trying to say!" Skoodge screamed hysterically, waving his arms around.

Suddenly Carlos turned back to normal and got free of Villiae. "Whoa man that was weird! It was like an annoying trailer or cut scene in a video game you couldn't skip!" He glanced at you, the audience. "I'm so right, don't even deny it."

"Give it up boys, I've beaten you all before!" Villiae declared.

"Yeah...but last time we didn't have something we have now." Carlos grinned.

"And what's that? Stale bread?" She pointed to the baguette Carlos was chewing on.

"It's not stale!" He whined. "This is quality French baked bread, got it from Paris myself! And no..." He grinned after swallowing the premium French baked bread. "_Our crazy girlfriends!_"

Suddenly Melissa slammed into Villiae, knocking her into a pile of rubble. Sophie landed on Villiae as Melissa leaped clear and pummelled the Dark Reaper while in the form of a massive Aenoran. Then she leaped off as Melissa charged a massive electric attack and fired it at Villiae, creating a flash of light and sending dust flying all around.

In ten seconds, it was over. The two young women glared at the she-devil who dared to touch their men. Sophie grinned as she went to her human form. "Well that was-"

A blast of energy slammed into her and knocked her back.

"SOPHIE!" Dib caught his girl friend in his arms while Melissa dodged under another blast. Carlos was in front of Melissa a second later and roared as he made a shield of demonic fire that split the next blast of energy. He was full demonic now, with hooves, claws, horns, and wings. "You don't even think about touching MY girl you bitch!"

Villiae got up, dusting herself off. "Well...this just got interesting...okay then, let's see what you humans are made of now."

"You're so dead now," Carlos growled. "You invade MY planet, hurt my girl friend's best friend, AND: you burnt my baguette you bitch!" He held up his now crispy black baguette. "I will kill you in the name of_ Delectable French Baking_!"

He and Melissa charged with a battle cry.

Dib hid with Skoodge nearby. He set Sophie on the ground and examined her. It helped that she wore just a pair of short shorts and a sports bra that Skoodge designed for her to make her transformations less embarrassing for her in public when she returned to human form. He saw her burnt skin and immediately used his own powers to start healing them. A light blue aura floated from his hands and washed over her, encasing her in a cocoon of blue light.

She groaned, her eyes shutting as she relaxed, letting his power do its work.

Xxx

**Irk Orbit**

"Our fleets have mobilized my Tallest," Admiral Envon said, his image displayed to Zim, Tak, and a council made up of allied species including Vortians, Venirans, Meekroobians, and Planet Jackers. "We are prepared to combat the growing Dark Zealot presence in our galaxy."

"Good my son," Zim stood. "These Zealots believe that they can enter our galaxy without consequence, that we will roll over and allow them to destroy us after we have worked so hard to rebuild." He propped one foot on the council's meeting table in front of him. "Well it stops here, and this time the Irken Empire's over funded military will be the ones doing the rescuing! I will deploy my fleets to secure unprotected planets on the outer rim of explore space and dedicate Admiral Envon's fleet to eliminating Dark Zealot invasions within our borders."

"De'kalan fleet rerouted from pick-up duty...to munitions transportation." The Planet JAcker representative rumbled.

His partner nodded. "We spotted a station that looked like a Dark Zealot base! We checked it out and it fits, they have Zealot ships and an army on it! A few thousand, a small garrison. We pulled our old battle fleet out of the moth ball yards and rearmed them. Also cranked out a few up to date battle ships. We're sending them to guard our De'kalana Planet Retrieval Fleet so they can drop bombs on any Dark Zealot station or base in the vicinity."

"Excellent! I shall have a battle group escort your vessels." Zim nodded.

"The Vortian Fleet's few scout ships have spotted evidence of FTL travel by Dark Zealot vessels." The Vortian Ambassador stated. "We picked up twenty of their capital ships heading for a region outside of known space. Sector O-232, near the edge of our galaxy."

"...I know where that fleet is going then." Zim said. "Earth."

"I fear they may have already arrived then." The Vortian sighed.

"The humans may be dumb, but they're tough," Zim stated. "But still, they may require help to fight off twenty ships capable of taking over entire planets."

The Veniran Leader, Credaran spoke up. "I've got a new batch of ships fresh out of dry dock ready to go. We'll go and enforce the humans' defences at Earth."

"With best Speed sir," Envon suggested. "The Zealots wiped out a hundred million within hours. The humans have seven billion last I checked, and they didn't have a defence fleet to protect them."

"I'll see that it is done," Credaran's hologram vanished from view.

"We are facing an enemy that clearly seeks to destroy us." Tak announced. "They don't take money, food, or ships, they just kill. So we'll show no more mercy than they have up to this point. If you even detect one of their ships, blow it out of the stars and send the wreckage back to them in a shopping cart." She joined Zim. "The _Salvation_ has just finished construction, Zim and I shall launch in it and begin supervising operations as soon as it is ready."

"We suggest you hurry then Lady Tak," The Meekroobian Ambassador said urgently. "We have picked up three of their Capital Ships approaching Meekroob. I must go and supervise the defence. Meekroob High Command out." The Meekroobian vanished.

"Out of one war, into another," Zim muttered.

"It'll be fine dad," Envon assured Zim. "We've beaten them back so far with minimal troop losses. I'm already picking up every single move their fleets make near a planet and I'm assigning battle groups accordingly. We can push them out and cut them off from our planets."

"Be careful son," Zim instructed his eldest child. "These are dangerous foes, more than Red and Purple."

Envon nodded. "I have to go to the Zedia system, Colonial Defence sent a distress call. I'll call you back after I'm done there dad." He vanished from view.

Xxx

**Cliff hanger!**

End of chapter.


	12. Chapter 12

A Dark Power

All OCs are property of their respective owners

IZ is property of Jhonen Vasquez

I don't own Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy either

Xxx

**Episode Eleven: Clash of the Titans! (No, not you Sam Worthington)**

**Zedia II**

The final guard fell as Lok tugged his plasma sword out of the alien's back. "Perfect! All clear!"

A single laser shot by his head and hit a guard who had been approaching him from behind. Lok glanced up at the upper section of the bridge where Nick was holding his rifle. "Uh...thanks!"

Lok glanced over to where Drosco's robot snake had constricted around a pair of crew members and was hissing threateningly at them while Drosco was accessing the controls of the massive ship.

"So what the heck is this thing anyways?" Nick asked as he and Lok stepped up behind Drosco.

"Well I'm just getting into the Database...looks like it is designated as a _Vanguard _Class Invasion ship." Drosco scrolled through images of the massive ship. "This one is the smallest invasion ship, holds just over twenty thousand." His orange eyes grew wide. "And the biggest holds _a hundred florping thousand_, with air and tank support."

"Almost as much as the Massive," Nick stated. "They must fit them into the minimal amount of space needed to hold them for long periods of time."

"Or maybe here." Lok tapped the center of the ship, which lit up to show the words **'Cryogenic Storage'.** "Keep somebody directly at zero degrees inside a working Cryo-Tube, you could stow them for decades and they'd only feel a little stiff when they come out."

"I can deactivate the Cryo-Pods from here," Drosco said. "That can kill any of their invasion force not already deployed."

"We should just eject them and let the Armada round them up, we could have lots of prisoners," Nick reasoned.

"It's too risky," Drosco shook his head. "Leave thousands of enemy soldiers out on the surface of Zedia II where they can cause more destruction on small towns? Not happening."

"We'll go into orbit," Lok said, settling the argument before it could escalate. "Set it for an automatic pilot, plot a course into the upper atmosphere. We'll eject the pods there. If they're like any escape pod they'll maintain enough speed to remain at a certain altitude in orbit until they run out of fuel. By then the Armada should arrive."

"Alright," Drosco nodded, inputting the new commands. "It's done."

"Now hit the self destruct to coincide with the Cryo Ejection, just five minutes or so afterwards." Lok continued. "By then this thing will have drifted far from orbit and we'll be long gone."

"Lovely plan you have there, Milord." A male voice said.

Lok snapped his plasma sword from his belt and had it lit up as he turned to face the newcomer. This time it was an Irken, clad in a black version of the Elite Guard uniform, and with a dark green scarf covering the lower half of his face. Hs eyes were green, one of his antennae was missing, and what could be seen of his lower face was badly scarred. And his left arm was a skeletal metal prosthetic.

His guard's coat was unbuttoned and pushed aside, revealing under it a pair of dark gray pants, black shirt with a combat harness holding a small knife and some other devices.

"Do I know you?" Lok asked curiously.

"Not personally," The Irken shook his head.

"Just shoot him and let's get out of here," Lok said dismissively.

Nick didn't hesitate to raise his rifle and fired a single shot. The Irken raised one hand before Nick had even fired and suddenly the laser came to a halt in front of the mysterious Irken, becoming a sphere in the palm of his hand.

Lok's eyes widened as he felt the call of the Dark Shard deep within him. This Irken possessed a Shard also.

"Allow me to introduce myself before I kill your friends." The Irken said. "I am quite sure you will recognize me by my name alone. After all, I am in the Hall of Remembrance on Irk by the will of Tallest Zim, as a 'Victim of Loss'."

There were many, both Irken and otherwise in the Hall of Remembrance. Even some SEN agents who died at Venira were listed there. But slowly the three began to piece together who this one was.

Green antennae, battle scars that made the ones under Lok's shirt look like scratches from a little kid's fight, a prosthetic arm meant for combat...

"I've been gone for a bit," The Irken said. "But my manners have not changed. My name is Devil, or as the Irken race knew me: Invader Dev."

Xxx

**Earth**

With the help of the Swollen Eyeball Network's small fleet, three of the Invading Flagships were destroyed. But three more replaced them. As two more appeared, it became clear that there was a reserve force ready to continue the attack on Earth. One country had managed to convert a large amount of its missiles to intercept the ships as they entered the atmosphere-with help from some SEN tech. It persuaded one to refrain from approaching Canada, but another was passing by Mars already.

"This is the only area unaffected in Sector M," Agent Nessie pointed out a small area on a map for the Board of Eyeballs to see. "The flag ship fell back when three of our ships hit it, but its still got a big army there."

"What resources do we have in that area?" Agent Tuna Ghost asked.

"Mothman only," Dark Booty sighed. "But our unmanned craft spotted him with Subjects Demon Boy, Alien Shifter, Fat Bastard, and Shock Claw."

"What about..._the Kurt?_" Agent Disembodied Head asked darkly.

"Unknown as of yet." Nessie replied. "Aside from them, there's a few scattered units of soldiers in the area trying to regroup for evacuation."

"Deploy...Agent Harpy," Dark Booty said darkly. "And send Agents Onryo and Fairy with her."

"Yikes, didn't know we were pulling out the big guns," Nessie picked up a phone. "Well desperate times and all, I'll get it done."

Xxx

**Sector M**

"Okay, tell me again why you had the urge to recite that?" Dib asked through clenched teeth.

"It was the appropriate time!" Skoodge complained.

"To sing 'Ode to a bloody strip of flesh I found stuck to my back one morning in the shower'?" Carlos, who was very disgusted by the Irken Empire's idea of a mourning song said as he read the script Skoodge had been singing off of.

"Well Zim has been looking for new songs," Skoodge shrugged. "But after somebody volunteered 'Joy to the decapitated head I found in my closet after a night out on the town' he decided to take a break from that task."

"Why do Irken songs have such long and crappy names?" Carlos asked.

"Meh," Skoodge shrugged. "I don't know, if you ever get a Galactic Survival manual you'll find out, there's a whole section on Irken Poetry."

"...why is there a section devoted to surviving poetry?" Dib asked.

"...our poetry is right behind the Vogon Poetry on the list of Top Worst Poetic Species." Skoodge shrugged. "If you think you had it bad, Envon had to listen to four hours of that once. Almost somehow managed to bite his own head off, literally."

"Okay, putting aside how the Irken race has no soul for poetry, we need to get the heck out of this city." Carlos said.

"Agreed! Listen to the maniac!" Dib nodded.

"Why thank you Comrade Big Head! That's probably the best compliment you've ever given me!" Carlos said sincerely.

"Okay, we just need a ride..." Sophie looked around...just as a Dark Zealot ship flew by, spot lights scanning the windows of buildings and not bothering with the group hidden in an alley.

"...you guys thinking what I'm thinking?" Sophie asked.

"Are you thinking 'I can't believe it's really not butter'?" Carlos asked.

THWACK!

"...okay I had that coming. Let's go commit an intergalactic car-jacking." Carlos nodded quickly.

Xxx

**Grim's Personal Ship**

Ever since he had been given the rank of Admiral, Grim no longer used his old Spittle Runner to fly around the galaxy anymore. Now he used a shuttle that could hold about twenty or so people, but could rely on his lonesome self to operate it. It was moderately armed and shielded, good enough to take on a few fighters and-if Grim was good enough and fast to react a small battleship. It was not however, meant to hold prisoners. Jana could attest to this seeing as every room was somewhat comfy and had no locks on the doors. Grim only let his family on board, so guest quarters did not require locks.

She was sitting on a bottom bunk, hands cuffed in front of her, and really pissed off at her Prince. She was being transported back to Irk so Grim could question her there.

Six and Zero-she still couldn't get by how eerily similar the names were had gotten a room to themselves at the back of the ship. Zero's built in mating design had yet to be overridden.

Grim was relaying orders to his ship's Artificial Intelligence, Lira. She was based off of the same design as the AI used by Lok and his team: Larry, except her template was that of a female.

"**We'll be at the rendezvous in half an hour,**" Lira said, her avatar projected as that of an entirely bright green Irken in a flowing dress with Invader style striping. "**Oh, and I'm not cleaning up any messes that go on in the back with that clone and her freak boy friend.**"

"_Dismissed,_ Lira,_" _Grim said sternly.

The AI vanished.

"Are all AIs supposed to be like that?" Jana was only referring to the modern AIs of this era-which was somewhat primitive compared to her own technologically.

"Moody, snippy, and annoying?" Grim turned to face his prisoner.

"Defective," She corrected him.

"I'm not fond of that word," Grim's eyes narrowed.

Jana let that topic rest. "Where are we going?"

"We're going to hook up with a fleet passing through Irken space to fuel," Grim replied. "Then we'll head right for Irk and meet up with my father."

For a moment Jana's mood brightened. Despite no longer possessing that menacing gleam in his eyes, Zim looked every bit as impressive as the Zim from her time line. Maybe seeing him again might make her feel better...but seeing Tak of all people in his arms would make her throttle somebody.

Seeing her small smile diminish as she looked away, Grim bent down to her level. "Every time I mention my father, you react like this."

"It's just...he reminds me of somebody long dead," Long dead may as well be the case anyways.

"No, it's more," Grim said, seeing through her deception. "You know my father specifically and personally. Judging from your age you must be a century or so old at the very least, you were definitely born during the time of Red and Purple like my father. Did you meet him at some point?"

"No," Jana shook her head. She was truthful enough in that: she had not met Zim during the reign of Red and Purple.

"So what's the big problem then?" Grim demanded, losing patience.

Jana turned away from him entirely, but he spun her around and pulled her to her feet, his hands gripping her arms. Her Squeedlyspooch pounded from the close contact to the Irken Prince, especially since his face was a mere inch from hers.

"Stop trying to lie to me or dodge the subject," Grim said. "You know my father, that much is obvious...so who are you, I mean who are you _really?_"

She doubted that she could go on trying to deceive Grim, who even in her time line was acknowledged as one of the most worthy Irkens to exist. He had gladly served Zim despite his causing the death of Miyuki, and she had to admit despite being centuries older when they first met he had that ability to command-no, _demand_ respect and loyalty of others.

But even as she opened her mouth to speak to him, tell him the truth, tell him she was an assassin from a now non-existent time line, the ship jolted. They were thrown off their feet as the lights flickered. Grim grunted in pain as he landed, but Jana oddly didn't hit anything-oh that's why: Grim caught her again and shielded her from the impact. Releasing her, he stood up straight. "Lira!"

The AI appeared, her voice slightly higher and faster-just barely noticeable enough to show she was feeling nervous anticipation. **"Five ships approaching from above. Dark Zealot ships. All of them appear to be different from the recorded classes, the ones made for invading planets."**

Unlocking Jana's cuffs, Grim said. "Can you classify them?"

"**If I had to guess...capital ships meant for ship to ship combat." **Lira replied. **"They're trying to use a form of projectile that is aimed at our engines. I suspect they aim to cripple us."**

"Jana, we need you to help," Grim said. "I'll go to the cockpit. Take Six and Zero, head up to the turrets, and see what you can do to keep those things off of us."

Jana nodded, and a moment later her plasma sword was placed in her hand. Grim held her hand for a moment. "And be careful."

She tried not to blush as he released her and rushed out of his quarters, reaching the cockpit in seconds. Jana stumbled out into the corridor at the same time as Six and Zero.

"What's going on?" Six was no longer horny and distracted. He was prepared to fight now. He really was the elite soldier he claimed to be, his pose and calm control showed that much.

"We're under attack, Grim wants us on the turrets!" Jana said quickly.

"Back here," Zero opened a hatch marked 'GUNNERY CONTROL'. Inside the small semi circular room were several chairs with slots above them that lead to the gunnery controls themselves.

Each Irken took one seat and was moved up through the square holes. The chairs then moved a few feet forward through darkness. Jana was buckled in by now, and watched as metal panels slid back to reveal that all three Irkens sat inside open domes sticking out of the side of the ship. The controls for the turrets popped out, revealing that each Irken had control of two of the six turrets. Holographic screens showed camera views from both turrets with targeting systems.

The domes also showed five large Dark Zealot ships bearing down on the small transport. The lead ship looked familiar to Grim, who was watching it through a camera he turned the transport away from the enemy fleet.

"That's the Levask!" He wrenched on the controls to avoid another salvo from several fighters pursuing his ship. "Admiral Sket is leading them! Keep those fighters away from the engines!"

"Gotcha," Six fired a single burst of plasma, and one fighter exploded soundlessly. The debris caught another fighter, which spun out of control and collided with a third. The fighters loosened up their formations so as to avoid further accidents such as that.

"This is Prince Grimrair on all frequencies to any Irken or Allied Forces in the area, my vessel is under attack by Dark Zealot ships!" Grim said as Lira broadcasted his message.

"_This is Commander Tibix, I hear you Prince Grimrair,"_ Tibix's face appeared on a screen moments later.

"Tibix? I thought you would be with my brother on the Setepia." Grim said, confused.

"_Field promotion, now I have an escort fleet under my command."_ Tibix replied. _"We see you on our sensors. We shall move to assist you immediately."_

"Hurry, we don't know how long we can keep this up!" Zero shouted over the link.

"_Was that Princess Skullene?"_ Tibix asked, confused.

"Just hurry up!" Six shouted.

"_My fleet is en route Prince Grim; we shall arrive in several moments._"

Grim continued to evade the Dark Zealot fighters as his companions fended them off using the turrets. Suddenly, one turret exploded, followed by one of the six smaller engines.

"This isn't good," Grim muttered as he tried to compensate for the loss of speed and fire power.

Suddenly, a large Irken cruiser appeared. It was an old re-commissioned model that had been used when Vortians had helped to design Irken vessels. It was more blocky than Irken vessels and was about half the size of the Levask and any of its sister ships, making it just a little bigger than the four battle cruisers accompanying the Levask. Three more Irken ships appeared, all of them Viral Tanks along with an escort of four gun boats. To complete the escort fleet was a fighter carrier.

Several wings of Voot Runners, Spittle Runners, and other fighters had also come out of FTL and were shooting across the open distance.

But just as Grim thought that safety was assured, the screens flickered. "Oh no!" He suddenly lost all control of the ship. "Lira!"

"**They managed to hit us with something, it's leeching our power!"** Lira said.

"Transfer to my PAK's storage archives, we can't have you fall into their hands." Grim ordered.

Lira nodded and vanished. She transferred herself to Grim's PAK via a wireless connection and then she was in a comatose state within him.

The other three occupants of the ship rushed into the cockpit.

"The turrets are dead, we're down to emergency power." Six said grimly.

"What's happening?" Zero asked as the transport was suddenly dragged towards the Dark Zealot ships by several fighters while more stalled the Irken ships.

"I think we're being taken alive." Grim said calmly. "Be ready for when they try to board us."

"Done," Six cracked his knuckles. "Let's see what these Zealots look like up close."

Xxx

"Damn!" Tibx slammed one hand on the rail separating the upper part of the bridge from the rest of the controls. The Zealot ships were beginning to withdraw with their prize. "Track the Levask's energy signature and don't lose it! Prepare for pursuit course!"

"Pursuit laid in, energy signature locked in scanner." An officer stated. "We're good to pursue enemy fleet Commander. All ships forming up with us."

"Melva," Tibix turned to Melva, who had been withdrawn since her trouble on Lebinine. She had been scanned for infections, but none were found, so after a day or two she was released. She was staring blankly at the battle between the fighters. "Melva!" She looked at him. "As soon as we catch up to them, I need you to get your team ready for action. Can you do it?"

She nodded and said blankly. "Yes, Commander Tibix."

She left the bridge without another word.

Xxx

**Zedia II**

Lok grunted as he rolled under another swing from the spear that Dev held. The supposedly dead Invader Legend straightened up. "You are good, but you haven't even begun to see what the Shard has given you."

"Didn't you blow your head off?" Lok asked as he backed away, rejoining Drosco and Nick.

"I thought that was the end of it all," Dev nodded. "I should be dead. My PAK was destroyed by Zim after I died...but then it saved me."

"Let me guess, _The Dark Power?_" Nick guessed.

"Yes," Dev nodded. "It offered me a second chance to live free of guilt." He looked at the spear in his hand. Lok had tried taking his plasma sword to it, but oddly the metal composing the shaft and blades had held without a scratch on it. "A chance to begin anew. It gave me everything it promised...and it will give me what I have always wanted for so long. What I foolishly tried to avenge in blind anger...when I could earn with my service."

"Miyuki,"

Darth stood at the doors of the bridge, accompanied by Loe, who nervously held a pistol.

"The Dark Power..." Darth said. "Promise to return Miyuki to you, Tallest Miyuki."

"But Miyuki has been dead for years!" Drosco protested. "How can it bring back the dead?"

"It brought Dev back," Lok pointed out.

"I was on the edge of death...it took my essence out of my body in the last instant before I died," Dev said. "It has a limited omniscience. It is able to see the future to a certain extent, until a certain event has passed that will allow it to see further. It knew it would have use of me...and Miyuki...she has been alive all this time."

This revelation left the group shocked.

"And all I must do to free her is fulfill my duty, and then I am freed." Dev said. "I am sorry, I truly am...but I care about Miyuki far more than any of you."

His spear swung again. Lok ducked under it, Dev spun it in his hands and jammed it at Lok's throat. Lok grabbed the shaft and forced it up, but Dev punched him with his metal hand. Lok stumbled into the controls behind him.

Loe raised his pistol. "Oh no you don't!" He fired once.

Dev raised one hand before he had even fired and the laser seemed to bend and twisted in a spiral inches from his palm before it shot off and hit the ceiling. Loe fired two more times. Nick brought his own pistol up and fired, but it was like a shield had formed around Dev, redirecting the lasers. Then he flicked his wrist and sent Nick colliding with Drosco, and they both hit a set of consoles that sparked.

Drosco's arm mounted plasma cannon fired a large sphere that Dev redirected at Darth and Loe. Darth's powers warned him ,and he grabbed Loe, leaping out of the way in time as it exploded in the hall way behind them.

Dev jammed his spear at Lok again. Lok twisted out of the way, getting cut across the stomach, but the spear buried itself into the main controls behind him. He closed his right hand into a fist and back fisted Dev across the face. Dev tugged his spear out and leaped onto one of the upper balconies of the bridge. "Use your shard Lok, if you can."

Lok stared up at Dev, struggling. "Agh...how do I...?" Then he felt the rush of power once more and launched himself into the air. He landed, feeling light as a feather. Dev swung his spear at the bounty hunter, who managed to back flip out of range of the initial swing. A second swing almost cut Lok's throat open, but he leaned back, and then darted forward. He brought both arms up and let the shaft of the spear hit his forearms-which were protected by a light layer of material used to protect from energy weapons and impacts. He clenched his teeth and then grasped the shaft of the spear, struggling with Dev over the weapon.

As they fought over the weapon, the Irkens below prepared to attack. Nick, Loe and Drosco took aim with their weapons while Darth stood by, listening to their thoughts on the fight. Nick closed one eye and fired a single shot.

It hit Dev's synthetic hand, making it release the spear, but not damaging it visibly. Lok pulled one hand off of the spear shaft and clenched it into a fist, energy crackling around it. With a shout, he slammed it into Dev's chest, sending him flying across the room. Now armed with the spear, Lok leaped after Dev and collided with him before he began to even arch into a fall. Lok had been propelled by his Shard, which was practically writhing inside him, thirsty for blood.

Lok snarled as they fell, positioning the spear so it would impale Dev. They were mere feet from the ground when something happened. It was like something slammed into Dev and Lok to decelerate their fall. Lok was slammed into a wall while Dev rolled on the floor. A pair of figures appeared out of nowhere, both clad in black battle suits and masks with dark gray armour.

"_**We shall deal with the Rogue, master Dev." **_They both said simultaneously. One of them was an Irken, the other a Veniran judging from their shapes. _**"Master Shay calls for your presence."**_

"Well then, I have no choice," Dev got up. "I'll leave you to it."

He tapped a device on his wrist, and vanished in a green light.

The two figures approached Lok, moving half crouched.

"Man..those masks are ugly," Lok said, indicating the Irken and Veniran skull masks they wore.

"_**Rogue..."**_

"_**Flawed..."**_

"_**Broken..."**_

"_**Flawed..."**_

"_**Disobedient..."**_

"_**Rogue..."**_

It was as though multiple people were speaking at once. The two masked fighters were murmuring, all of the words directed at Lok.

"_**You take the master's gift...but refuse to repay him with your service..."**_ The Irken said.

The Veniran growled. **"**_**All of you are going to DIE!**_**"**

Lok was immediately tripped by the Irken, and rolled away from the Veniran as he stomped down. Nick's pistol came up and he fired, in a professional stance with both of his hands grasping the weapon. One shot whizzed by the Irken's helmet, a second one didn't even get near him as he moved across the room in a blur of black. He lunged at Drosco, Loe, and Nick, who fired their weapons at him.

He flipped, twisted, and ducked under every single shot, leaving a slight haze in his track. He then leaped into the air, lunging at them.

But Darth casually raised a pistol he had grabbed from a fallen crew member and fired, using his telepathic powers to plot the Irken's trajectory. The laser dug through his arm, and he hissed, falling to the ground and scrambling away. He moved in again and swung one hand at Drosco, but Nick got between them and slammed his pistol into the Irken's arm. He then kicked the Irken right in the chest, knocking him back two steps before he became a blur of movement.

Lok meanwhile rolled out from under the Veniran's foot as it came down again. He activated his plasma sword and cut into the Veniran's armour, only to find that it repelled the plasma blade. He got up and deactivated the sword, choosing his fist in favour of the weapon. He slammed an uppercut into the Veniran's chin, then his ribs, assailing the armoured alien with blows until he finally focused a large amount of energy into his fist and sent the Veniran spinning head over heels.

The large alien slammed into the canopy lining the front of the bridge. The thick material held, but the Veniran's helmet went flying off.

Instead of bright, blue or silver eyes, coal black eyes glared at Lok. It growled. _**"You shall not escape the reach of the Dark Power, Rogue. Your sacrilege ends now!"**_

"This guy's really nuts!" Nick said as the Veniran stood up on the part of the canopy that took up the bottom part of the bridge where there wasn't metal floors and computer consoles.

"Watch out!" Loe fired his pistol desperately at the Irken, who was continuously dodging each shot until the pistol overheated. The Irken grabbed Nick's gun arm as he spun to shoot at it. It was about to snap his limb off when Drosco fired his plasma cannon.

The sphere slammed into the Irken's armoured chest plate. It released Nick and was sent flying into the canopy at several hundred miles per hour.

If it had been an ordinary being, it wouldn't have survived. But instead the canopy shattered into hundreds of pieces as the Irken was blown out into open air. The Veniran's support collapsed beneath him, and he plunged out of sight.

"You did it!" Nick grinned at Drosco. "Good one!"

Drosco smiled knowingly and waved one hand dismissively. "It's what I do."

Alarms began to wail.

"**Attention loyal followers of Lord shay. Our ship has been overrun," **A voice announced. **"Abandon this vessel to its doomed fate, let it bring the enemies of Lord Shay down with it."**

"...why don't I like the sound of that?" Darth asked, placing a hand on his head...and gasped. "They're going to scuttle the ship! Right over the colony!"

"There are people down there still!" Drosco cried.

"What do we do?" Nick asked.

"The only thing we can do right now, run!" Darth shouted.

But then an explosion rang out amidships. A console displayed an image of the ship...breaking in half. The floor tilted beneath their feet. Several damaged consoles broke from the floor, tumbling past the Irkens as they struggled towards the doors.

One slammed into Lok though, and sent him falling down, slammed into the safety rail, and flipped over it, plummeting out of sight.

"LOK!" Drosco shouted.

Xxx

Lok barely heard Drosco as he fell, the wind rushing around him. His eyes were wide, more with surprise than terror. He turned over onto his front, the wind pummelling his face and forcing his antennae upwards.

He saw two figures clad in black. They were both looking up calmly at him, using their own Shard powers to slow their descent.

_**You shall die...but we shall live...**_ It was the voice of the Irken, in Lok's mind.

_**You power...shall feed us...your shard...shall sustain us...**_ The Veniran added.

They both waited until he was close enough, and attacked. For several seconds it was just Lok struggling, plummeting towards the ground from over fifty miles in the air. The settlement was a dot beneath him and the two Zealots. But then large components of the now crumpling enemy ship above fell past them.

One came close enough, and Lok's shard enabled him to react. The next thing he knew he was somehow gripping the hull, an odd feeling coming from his finger tips and feet as he sat perched on the large engine component. It was a total adrenaline rush as he, the Irken, and the Veniran crawled over different pieces of falling wreckage at lightning speed, leaping to new ones every second.

It was all the Shard doing this, feeding him its power so that he would survive, and by extension it would survive. But how would it survive the fall...or the crashing city sized ship that would crash mere seconds after they did?

_Kill them...take their shards...let their shards empower you..._

The Veniran was suddenly in front of Lok as he hang onto a spinning piece of hull armour. He snarled at Lok, his voice lost to the roaring wind. He was somehow tethered to the hull, perhaps by his own Shard's power also. He lunged...

_Kill him, kill him and take his Shard. KILL HIM NOW!_

At that moment, the time paradox that the future Grimrair had caused took effect. Every action he changed sent ripples throughout the entire universe, changing things in small ways...and others in large ways for either better or worse. They could have had nothing to do with Lok's destiny to become an enemy of the empire, or they could have had everything to do with it, but the Ripple Effect of the Paradox changed them.

Lok's hands shot up before he could even think about it. They plunged through the Veniran's armour and flesh. The alien jerked, blood shooting out of his mouth and being left behind in the air above them, splattering on components falling above them.

Lok called on his power once more...

And made the Veniran burst into tiny little pieces, leaving only bits of flesh, bone, and a lot of liquefied organs. But something stayed in Lok's grasp. It had shaped itself into a perfectly smooth black jewel, like a diamond. It looked fragile as glass, but pulsed with the power of entire suns.

The Dark Shard belonging to the deceased alien turned to liquid, travelling up Lok's hands and ignoring the fact that it was lighter and should have shot up due to the massive speed Lok was falling at. It entered through his flesh, mouth, and eyes...and he liked it. When it was over, the Irken stood before him, backing away as Lok exhaled one hand on his chest.

They were about a minute from hitting the ground now.

Lok stared at the Irken. "Now I know what you meant," He spoke both in reality and in the Irken's mind, only the latter being heard-again due to the large amount of nose caused by them falling at massive speeds through the air. "Now _your_ power will sustain _me,_ ass hole."

He gathered the power into his hands and sent a single blast of energy-now a simple gesture for him. It slammed into the Irken and sent him flying away, screeching in pain and terror.

The large piece of metal Lok was on was flipping end over end so fast it would have made most sick. But it felt like it was moving at inches a second to him. When he was facing the ground now barely a mile below where hundreds of colonists had come out to find the invaders dead...and their ship about to crush them.

He landed right in the middle of the main street, making a crater. Some looked at him, but most were too distracted by the millions of tons of metal about to crush them in about a minute.

Lok looked up, the power still flowing in him, fresh and strong. He clenched his fists and shut his eyes. The Shard guided him, soothed him, and whispered encouragement to him. It was like it was trying to seduce him, guiding him in everything. It let him see that his friends had escaped on the Omni-Hunter before he had even killed the Veniran. It let him see dozens of Zealot escape pods trying to flee the new Irken ships in orbit. It also let him see what it was trying to teach him to do.

_Yes...you will be perfect...you can overpower anything..._

The debris above had all but fallen to a standstill now as far as Lok could see.

_You will be my new Prophet, Lok. You will be the one who kills Shay._

Lok roared and swung his arms. As he did, a massive tidal wave of earth shot up from the area right next to the settlement. It was like the planet itself had shot an arm up to swat away the impending blow. The dirt was packed tightly into one mass, and shot at such a velocity that it moved five times as fast as the mass of the ship. It didn't hit everything, but the largest pieces focused on the colony were practically swept aside by the mass of earth and rock.

It blocked out the sun...and then when it was over a massive canyon several times that of the Grand Canyon on Earth was on one side of the settlement, and on the other side was a field several miles large filled with enough junk and metal to make a city.

Lok stood in the middle of the street, several shades paler than he had been before. He was hyperventilating, one hand on his chest. "Did I...just...?"

_Yes my prophet...and you will be able to perform a miracle like that within the short time that you consume another of my Shards. This rush of power shall fade until it is stable, leaving you slightly stronger than before. But as you grow...and gain more...it shall stay longer...and the amount you keep will be much larger. You have used quite a bit, more than Shay ever did when he forcefully took a shard the first time. But you must rest now...sleep, my Prophet._

Lok fell over_,_ consumed by a sleep so deep that when he was examined later, they said he was in a coma. They were rightfor the most part; he would stay like this until he recovered from the sheer power he had been forced to harness. It had been too much on his body...

He really needed the rest; after all he had just harnessed the power of a being older than the Meekroob and did something bordering on an act of god. But this was no god, even Lok could tell that in his last moments of consciousness.

It was the Dark Shard, and it was looking to replace its Prophet: Lord Shay.

Xxx

**Unknown Space**

The Irken Fleet appeared in this universe after travelling across the galaxy.

"Why did we drop back into normal space?" Tibix demanded.

"Interference sir," An officer replied.

"Interference with FTL travel? We were in another dimension while folding space!" Tibix growled.

"I don't know sir, it's like the process was stopped early...like an emergency stop." The officer explained.

The helmsman spoke up. "We have a massive nebula ahead sir, but the signal is projecting clearly. The Prince was taken through here and at our speed it might take a day or so to reach him."

"Is the signal moving?" Tibix asked.

"Negative sir."

"Form the fleet up." Tibix ordered.

"We have a patrol joining up with us sir, along with a Mobile Command Frigate." An officer spoke up. "Inbound from Border Post 65, saying they were ordered by Tallest Zim to follow us and assist."

As he spoke, three more gun boats, a pair of troop transports, a small regular frigate, and a larger Command Frigate appeared alongside the nine vessels of Tbix's small fleet.

"All ships form up, move into the nebula, maintain close distance with your own battle group and maintain a distance between both of our fleets, I don't want us caught together in an ambush. Full engine output now," Tibix ordered. "We're bringing the Prince back home safely, no matter what the cost."

The sixteen Irken ships moved into the nebula simultaneously in two separate groups.

Xxx

**Unknown Planet, Unknown Sector...seventeen hours later**

Grim's eyes opened, and he was looking at clear blue sky. He blinked and placed one hand up to block the sun from his eyes. He groaned and tried to sit up.

He was in his clothes, including his poncho, but without any armour or weapons.

"Jana?" He called out, dazed. "Six?" He got up, and stumbled, leaning against something next to him, a wall. "Zero?"

He was on a sidewalk. He placed one hand on his head, groaning as he stumbled to a corner. He looked around the plaza he had reached. Several other aliens walked about, several stalls were set up, selling food or clothes...

And the entire city looked like a warzone. Crumbling buildings, canals of stagnant water, piles of rubble in allies.

"Where am I...?" Grim whispered.

"You got dumped here just like every schmuck who crosses Shay." Grim turned to the speaker: an alien clad entirely from head to toe, a mask with eyehole visors covering his eyes. The rest of the suit was gray with black straps holding what looked like weapons. The alien was leaning against a wall, perched on the end of a low stone wall blocking off an alley between two buildings.

He hopped off. "Welcome to the city of Shay, on the planet that used to be that monster's 'holy City'." He air quoted, and then tilted his head and offered Grim a hand.

The masked alien said pleasantly. "The name's Krame, self appointed tour guide as of now and the least likely to gut you for fun. Let's get some whiskey, I think you'll need it."

Xxx

End of chapter! Dramatic cliifhanger!


	13. Chapter 13

A Dark Power

All OCs are property of their respective makers

Invader Zim is property of Jhonen Vasquez

Also a big thanks to Zim'sMostLoyalServant-pretty sure you know why. (wink-wink-nudge-nudge)

And I am so so so so SO sorry for not putting this up way sooner!

Xxx

**The Node Arch, Part 1**

**Episode Twelve: Dark Node**

**Edge of Unknown Nebula, Irken Royal Vessel 329**

"This is as far as the slip space drive can take us," A tall, blue eyed Irken, one of the Royal Family of Irk stated as the small ship came out into the real world before the nebula where Tibix's fleet had entered.

The Irken, clad in a pitch black battle suit with dark blue shoulders and forearms was known as Apoc, or Apocalyptic, brother of Tallest Zim and slayer of Zim's past carnation: Tallest Splorchamheimer. He was not the only Irken on the command deck of the ship, which was about the size of a cargo ship.

Accompanying him was a shorter, slender female Irken with blue eyes and wore a blue Invader uniform. Standing with Skullene was Shen, who wore Vortian Battle Armour and had a green holographic visor over one eye to match the blue one his mate wore. Next to them was the Irken pilot Elay-fresh from her assignment to help at Lebinine. Standing at the back of the bridge were Third and Second Tallests Gor and Arnor.

Gor was watching the other four Irkens work while Arnor was actually doing something productive by scanning the nebula. After Lebinine, Arnor had volunteered to take a more active role instead of staying with Gor to watch battles like in Impending Doom II. He had also dragged Gor with them for the ride.

"So...we can't just jump around the nebula?" Gor asked.

"We could, but we need to go _inside_ it," Skullene explained patiently. "Where ever they took Grim, it's in that nebula."

"Can we contact the fleet that went ahead of us?" Arnor asked.

"Negative, the Nebula is jamming long range transmissions," E shook her head. "But I think we can reach Grim's position if we use the Dimensional Displacement Drive."

"What?" Every Irken-and Shen looked at E in shock.

"Are you nuts? That thing is why my eyes are blue!" Apoc protested, pointing at his eyes.

"What does it even do?" Gor-the only one not in shock asked.

_**(If you want a simple note, I really suggest that you go down to the bottom of this and skip the following)**_

"Of course you wouldn't know, moron," Arnor rolled his eyes. "It causes the vessel to phase out of this universe and into another one. Every universe can be identified by star charts, radiation, star based date, and displacement incursions left by the initial displacement. We basically set up a digital map of this system, and then displace ourselves to another universe that fits our purposes, preferably with this nebula being non-existent and move to the position where Grim's location would be in this universe, reference the map we developed, and set the Drive to return to this universe. It's highly dangerous because we could end up in the middle of a black hole, a super nova, a massive battle, or we might arrive somewhere before that universe's 'Big Bang' and have no energy to draw on to return here...all in theory anyways. Or we could end up in the exact same position as another mass and start a fusion reaction that would wipe us out. Also the Dimensional Transition wouldn't allow us to adapt to that universe before placing us in it, exposing us to an estimated time span of several minutes before we die."

"Well what's the big difference between this and a black hole?" Gor asked. "I mean we made ships that could survive and navigate those years ago, why not use one of those and then come back here?"

"There's a major difference," E said.

"Black holes and other passages to other universes warp time and space, and allow whoever uses it to adapt to whatever universe they are about to enter." Apoc elaborated. "While it might only seem like a few seconds in the real world and from the point of view of the traveller, in reality inside that black hole they have spent hundreds or thousands of years being adjusted to survive to what is on the other side by being exposed to small amounts of protons from that universe instead of just popping into that universe all together. One universe could look alike with another, but being in that universe without adapting to it is as bad as getting radiation poisoning."

E spoke up. "Like how if you drink alcohol slowly instead of binge drinking it all in one go: it's healthier for whoever does it slowly."

"The Displacement Generator allows us to bypass the adaption phase and is how we figured out in the first place that we need to adapt to new plains of existence. The test ship used passed ships that had been recorded going into and out of black holes decades ago that reappeared mere seconds or minutes after they went in. They were all displaying the same symptoms of a temporal warp field at varying rates." Apoc continued.

"So any ship travelling through a naturally occurring passage to another universe would be preserved for however long it took for them to adapt to that universe," Arnor added. "You'd never know it, and nobody else would know it if or when you got back: but you wouldn't be gone for ten seconds, you'd have been gone for ten centuries."

_**(And the confusion ends here)**_

"It's all too confusing to try putting into perspective. If you use a Displacement Drive and come back to your original universe before you die of Dimensional Exposure, then you can recover from any sickness gained in a matter of hours or days." Apoc shook his head. "But if we use the Displacement Drive now, in a risky position like this and without any Displacement Probes to scout out what's in this system in whatever universe we pick, then we could end up dying there before we can do anything."

"We have little choice, every hour we spend means Grim and his team are in more danger." Skullene said. "Activate the Displacement Generator."

"You got it Princess," E nodded.

"Belay that!" Apoc objected.

"Sorry Apoc, but Skullene has seniority," Arnor shook his head. "As Princess of the Tallest, she outranks me and Gor technically. And this ship is her property, so she outranks you on it in accordance with the laws you agreed to establish."

Apoc glared at his niece. "I know you want to help Grim, but the Displacement Drive could destroy us."

"Nothing ventured," Skullene buckled in. "Nothing gained."

Shen sat in the next chair over and held her hand.

"E, hit the Displacement Drive!" Skullene ordered.

"Activating Displacement." Elay stated. "Hang on!"

The Ship popped out of existence...and appeared in another universe...

_**Of pure Dooky!**_

"AH!" They all screamed as the ship was suddenly placed under limitless tons of pressure by the universe they had appeared in.

"Hull buckling! Shields failing! COLD UNFEELING ROBOT ARM HELP!" Arnor screamed.

"I DON'T WANNA DIE IN DOOKY!" Gor wailed.

"Hit the Displacement Drive and take us home!" Apoc shouted.

"No, choose another universe!" Skullene ordered. "Hurry!"

"Displacement Drive activated!" E shouted.

The ship vanished from the Dooky Universe...

_**And appeared in a Universe of Pure Itchiness!**_

"Oh dear gods it itches so bad!" Shen shouted as a lot of green gasses appeared in the control room. Everybody was scratching themselves to the point where they were beginning to cut into their own skin.

"The sensors are being disabled!" Arnor said. "Too. Itchy. To. OPERATE!"

"DISPLACE US NOW!" Everybody shouted at E, who complied.

They appeared...in normal space.

The itchiness and stink of the previous universes faded with their Dimensional travelling, the group scanned the system.

"There is no solar system in this universe at this position," Apoc sighed in relief.

"Ok, pulling up a map of the area and overlapping with a map of the region of our own universe." Arnor said, shaking a bit. "Preferably before whoever lives in this universe finds us."

"E...take us to a position several hundred thousand miles off of the area where Grim's signal was and then displace us back to our universe, hit the emergency return." Skullene slumped in her chair.

"Aye-aye," Scarred for life, E began to pilot the ship forward. In another universe where they stood was supposed to be a Nebula capable of stopping Slip space travel and hid a Dark Zealot base. Now there was nothing, just the darkness between solar systems and infinite stars to fill their vision.

After E reached an appropriate area thirty minutes later, she examined the overlapped maps for reference. She smiled. "Returning to Prime Universe!"

...two trips through the Universes of Dookie and Itchiness later they finally appeared.

The nebula surrounded them on all sides, a haze of red that gave the command deck a rather darker appearance. The crew of the Royal Vessel gazed upon several indiscernible shapes partially hidden by the nebula.

"We are four hundred-eighty-two thousand five hundred-forty-nine miles from Prince Grim's Transponder." E announced. "There are several planets nearby...and I am seeing ships popping up and vanishing spontaneously."

"Keep us in stealth, head for Grim's position, and keep us moving slow." Skullene ordered. "Everybody else, break time. I need some powder for the itchiness, and a bath for the dookie."

"Lead on," Shen smiled suggestively-children avert your eyes and stop thinking now!

"Oh get a room," Apoc groaned at the actions of his niece and her mate.

Xxx

**Earth**

Carlos grinned as he advanced on Kurt, whose legs were missing. Kurt desperately crawled backwards with his two hands and sad in a high pitched, whiny voice. "Oh please Carlos! Don't kill me! Please spare me almighty awesome Carlos!"

"Sorry Kurt," Carlos said, putting on his sun glasses. "You screwed with the wrong maniac." He raised one hand, three fingers curled to his palm, one extended to mimic a gun tip, and his thumb mimicking the hammer of the 'gun'. A small bit of flame appeared at the tip of the gun. "Got any last words, compadre?"

Kurt stared at him...and opened his mouth. "Well for the next few days Carol it looks like we're in for more raining plasma of doom along with secondary invasions from the alien fleet!"

"WHAT?" Carlos sat up and hit his head on something metallic. "Ow!" He groaned and got up, avoiding the object he hit his head on...and hit the ceiling of the small crate he was in. "OW!"

"Shut up!" Somebody put their hand over his mouth. "What part of stealth don't you get?" Sophie glared at Carlos.

The group had successfully snuck onto the Zealot Ship, and had managed to transfer over to a Zealot Cargo Ship in hopes of sneaking onto a flag ship. But they had been stuck inside the cargo hold for hours, about seven by Dib's watch's count.

Kurt had met up with them along the way, having been waiting for them for several full hours to show up at the cargo ship. He had come prepared with some supplies for them incase they had to wait.

"We're still getting the Alien Watch and Mysterious Weather." Melissa sighed as she looked at the radio. "When will this thing land? It's an advanced alien society!"

"They're probably going slow and stealthy so the Eye Balls don't shoot them down," Dib said, munching on a Kit Kat bar.

Suddenly the ship jolted lightly.

"What was that?" Carlos asked.

CRASH!

"What was _that?_" Dib looked around cautiously.

Suddenly an alarm rang out.

"_**Attention fellow zealots!" **_A cheerful voice sang. _**"We're going into a hyper jump right now! Anybody not buckled in will be tossed around for no apparent reason!"**_

"HYPER JUMP?" Every one of the stowaways-except Kurt shouted.

The ship had docked with a Zealot frigate launched from one of the capital ships. The frigate was on an out bound flight from Earth now.

"I'm losing contact," Dib announced as he tried using his communicator. "They're moving at half the speed of light by now!"

"What happens when they jump?" Sophie asked nervously.

Kurt made several hand signs.

"Kurt says 'We will all be painfully crushed into paste on the back wall'." Carlos translated.

"MOMMY/COLD UNFEELING ROBOT ARM!" Most of the group shrieked.

They prepared as the ship shook.

"_**Hype r jump in three, two,"**_

SH-OOM!

Suddenly a dome of golden energy surrounded the group as the ship shot forward, a field stabilizing its size as it shot across the galaxy rather than using slip space. The group look around in confusion.

"Testing of kinetic stabilizer is a success!" An eager voice said as three figures dropped down among the group.

All three of them were humans, older than Dib but still young.

"Who are you?" Melissa demanded, energy crackling in her fists.

"Stop!" Dib got between Melissa and the three. "They're Eye Balls!" He pointed to the logos on the black coats they wore.

"Yes! Behold the badassery of Agent Harpy!" The girl in the middle cackled. She had pale purple or pink hair-similar to Zita's from Dib's class that hang down to her shoulders and oddly pink eyes that gleamed. Her lateral incisors were sharper than the rest of her teeth, and the edges of a cherry red tattoo could be seen sticking out from under the sleeves of her trench coat.

"Fairy!" The second girl, a blonde with more tanned skin added. She grinned and back flipped into the air, landing perfectly in a sitting position on a crate nearby.

"Onryo, " The third added-more professionally than arrogantly. He was the only boy on the team of three, and had short black hair and features to indicate he was from Asia-or Japan considering his code name.

"I assume that the globe mounted on the thin body is Agent Mothman," Harpy said. "AM I RIGHT?" Her right eye twitched as she looked between everybody.

"Uh...yes?" Dib squeaked fearfully.

"Good!" Harpy grinned happily, hugging Dib. "We were sent to help you!"

"Uh...great?" Dib used his powers to literally slip out of Harpy's grip.

"We were warned that the vessel your transport was heading for was preparing for an escape," Onryo added. "We quickly boarded a shuttle without being detected and managed to sneak out once it docked with this vessel."

"Well, always more room for when Doom comes around," Carlos shrugged. "Grab a seat, we were about to play Poker until this rig stops."

"Ooh!" Fairy hopped up and down. "I wanna play! I wanna play!"

Carlos blinked. "Are you sure you want to? I usually end up playing Strip Poker."

"I'll give you this if you let me play," Fairy held out a Klondike bar...which she somehow kept from melting...all the way from the store she stole it from on Earth.

Carlos' eyes widened. 'Her powers are great!'

"You're in!" He took the Klondike Bar. "Okay everybody word of warning, to get rid of any awkwardness I'm putting my pants on the line first."

This made most males move or turn away.

Xxx

**Unknown Planet-designated 'Shay'**

**300 miles outside of ruins of Capital City 'Shay'**

Jana continued to crawl up the slope, her limbs aching. Her battle suit-which had been deprived of every weapon and gadget, had managed to keep her body temperature stabilized, but her head and hands were practically on fire. The sun was bearing down especially harshly in the desert region that she had awoken in several hours ago. It had made her lose hope of finding anywhere that she could locate food or shelter until she spotted storm clouds on the opposite side of a small mountain range, indicating a coast with possible settlements.

After traversing passages and roads, she discovered that the coast was real...but was below the land she stood on by several hundred feet, and there was no way for her to access her PAK's legs or equipment to help safely traverse the way down. Then again there was just water down there, no ground to stand on, so what was the point? It would only melt her anyways.

So she had gone up the coast, searching for signs of life. She had found a sign after perhaps an hour of walking dead on her feet. It was made of scrap metal with a primitive holographic projector. When she approached it, the sign barely had enough power in it to run a scan of her and translate its contents into Irken before it died.

_**Follow road north east to entrance of Maneka City**_.

She had jogged along a simple pathway that cut across a mile or two of desert to the base of a mountain, and followed the path upwards.

Her hand hauled the rest of her body up and she lied down on her back, gasping for breath. "Ah...why the hell was I dropped in a desert?"

She sat up, eyes narrowed in frustration. "Simple assassination mission, that's what it was. But no, that stupid sexy Prince came along, and that guard and his clone girl friend." She growled. "NOW I'M GONNA DIE OUT HERE!"

She smashed one fist into the ground, making a bowl sized crater in it. Exhaling, she looked up to see how far she had to go...and instead saw the mouth of a cave, wide and looming. The cavern within had several entrances in fact, letting in sun light from the walls or ceiling, and sand practically flooded it, sloping downwards to unseen parts of the mountain. Jana stood in the mouth of it, staring instead at the sign that was dug into the wall.

She recognized it because it was one of the alien words on the sign, and had been translated for her.

Maneka. There were three other words before it, which she was pretty sure meant 'This way to'.

"A city...in a mountain?" Jana whispered, sliding down parts of the loose sandy floor, heading deeper into the mountain.

As she went, there was less sand and more rock. There was also a series of crystals in the walls and ceiling that let out a soft light that allowed her to see,. Then suddenly, she saw the first signs of non-natural development: a shaped passage way in the walls of the cavern ahead.

She rushed to it, and only had to see the word for Maneka on the side before she rushed inside. The only down side was that the light crystals began to dim as she went deeper, eventually forcing her to go slower or risk tripping over her own feet.

"Who builds an entrance to a city like this?" Jana muttered. "Is it a bunker or something?"

There was no sign of advanced technology, not even refined metals being used to construct the interior of Maneka, which at the moment consisted of endless corridors for Jana.

Rounding a corner, Jana was almost in complete darkness before she spotted the end of the passage way up ahead. "Finally..." She jogged to the end and came out onto a platform overlooking a large room. It was entirely made of stone like the rest of Maneka's entrance, carved out of the rock of the mountain. Statues lined the walls, their details weathered away by time. The platform had a single ramp that went along the walls to the bottom, which Jana followed.

The bottom of the room had remnants of carvings etched into it, only visible because of sand stuck into deeper crevices in the darker stone. But what interested her most was the middle of the room: a pool that took up most of the floor. It was a liquid that did not shift at all, and was bright pink or purple. It let off the light that had illuminated the corridors for Jana, guiding her to it.

"What in the hell..." Jana managed to activate her PAK's scanners-which thankfully were among the only things not deactivated. They had no results from scanning the liquid, requesting a sample. But she wasn't about to put her hand inside an unknown liquid that was possibly letting off a lethal radiation that only her PAK protected her from.

She began to look for an object in the room to test the liquid on. But as she took one step forward, something cracked under her foot, and she backed up, staring down at the bare skeleton that lay before her. It was perfectly smooth, like it had been polished and preserved carefully, clad in clothing consisting of brown and green robes and black armoured plating. It had four eye sockets, but no lower jaw that she could see. And resting next to its outstretched left hand was a simple metallic sword.

Several more corpses littered the area, all of them of varying species. Two of them were even Irken...and both were still in the process of decomposing. They all had similar weapons, made of metal and very primitive.

A quick scan showed that the sword at her feet was made of a material that made its density greater than that of the staves used by Elite guards. There were similar corpses left scattered about the room, with some possessions lying about also.

Taking the sword, Jana gently stuck the tip into the liquid...and came back with only half of the blade. Tossing it away as it continued to melt, she watched as the weapon dissolved until only a puddle of pink goo was left...and watched it slide back into the pool, not leaving a drop.

"Is this stuff alive or something?" Jana mumbled.

"Not precisely-"

"SWEET MOTHER OF ZIM!" Jana spun, accidently using an oath from her days in the now nonexistent future empire. She snatched up another weapon, this one a shorter, more intricate and curved sword. It was much lighter than the broad sword she had picked up, more similar to her nearly weightless Plasma sword.

She aimed the tip of the sword right at whatever had snuck up on her.

It was a masked humanoid alien, a little taller than her. It did not seem too bothered by the tip of the sword resting at its throat. It gently brought one black leather glove clad hand and gently moved the sword tip away from the gray material at the collar area of his suit. "Well the name's Krame, guiding's the game. What can I do for you?"

"How the hell did you get here?" Jana demanded, redirecting the sword so it once more was a mere twitch from cutting his neck open. "I didn't pick up anything on my-"

"PAK sensors, I know." Krame nodded. "My suit masks my thermal signature and my body's natural electrical signals between my brain and muscles. I was sleeping behind some rocks when you showed up."

"Well then that bodes a new question: why the florp are you here?" Jana continued her interrogation.

"Well...I kinda live here," Krame sounded like he was amused by this, talking to a curious child who looked upon him in awe instead of one seriously confused and pissed off assassin. "Sadly I moved in _after_ these morons opened the passage. If I had the chance I'd have stopped them."

"Passage?" Jana glanced at the pool. "Is it under the pool? Does it lead to the City of Maneka?"

"The City of Nightmares? You're in its front lobby sweet heart," Krame walked up to the edge of the pool. "The liquid is not a single living organism. It's trillions upon trillions of them, all bred with the purpose of defending this passageway into the inner parts of Maneka." He knelt down. "They take whatever is stuck into their midst, and use it to breed a few million more of their number in a few seconds."

"They sound like an incredible species for something so small." Jana had to admit that she was impressed by the defence. "But why don't they eat through the walls of the passage? Or the whole planet for that matter?"

"Are you familiar with...the Infinite Energy Absorption Blob?" Krame turned his head so one visor covered eye stared at Jana, who had scavenged a proper sheath for the sword and hang it in her belt.

"Yes!" Jana nodded, remembering the tales of how Zim's creation killed not one, but two Tallests...including his former mate Miyuki. "But how do you-"

"I used to get out a lot before I ended up here," Krame cut her off in midsentence. "These are like..a more improved version of them. When they were created, they were given a sort of safety so they could not and would not eat through this chamber or attempt to leave it. They would stand guard unless given an order to move or they would eat anything that touched them."

"Who put them here?" Jana inquired, cautiously approaching Krame while scooping up a knife that was discarded by one of the dead aliens.

"I only know stories." Krame replied, his eyes fixed on the pool. "But this was the only way into Maneka. And that whatever is in Maneka is probably worth a lot if so many would go to so much trouble to get it..." He turned to her as she hid the knife behind her cloak. "Or it's something dangerous."

"The pool didn't eat these," Jana glanced at the corpses.

"No...but I found this." Krame reached into one pocket on his outfit, producing a small data recorder. "Its damaged from whatever hit them, but operable. But I need a computer to see the contents...if I recall, you Irkens use those PAK,s right? And while you're alive, they operate on par with super computers."

"You think I'd let you put something like that in my PAK?" Jana had her knife out in the open now.

"Hm...guess not," Krame shrugged. "Tell you what...if you want to see Maneka, I know how to open the gate."

Jana lowered her knife and inch. "Why would I go to whatever killed these fools?"

"Maybe they killed each other, maybe somebody else came along and killed them," Krame was not as innocent as he would make himself be. He was trying to tempt her into going...

"Maneka was supposedly the last advanced city on this planet," He added. "Might have some pretty fancy equipment in it. I've never been further than the bottom of the pool and it had electrical lights."

That cut it. Jana lowered her knife, "I need a way to contact somebody off of this planet."

"I think we can help each other then," Krame nodded.

"First we need to bypass that pool, and I'm not in the mood for suffering the fate of Miyuki and Spork." Jana glanced at the pool again.

"Well this place might seem ancient to the point of having no forms of technology, but there's always more than meets the eye," Krame approached a section of the floor that rose above the rest by several steps. He stopped at the very edge and crossed his arms. ""

Xxx

And a hundred miles away, the very same Krame who guided Jana into the city of Maneka looked over his shoulder at the back of the transport crawler he and Grim had gotten aboard. "So tell me again...how the hell does this make sense?"

"If I were either Jana, Six, or Zero, I would immediately look for a recognizable and safe area." Grim reasoned, straightening the tunic he had been given by the friendly alien prisoner of Planet Shay. "This is the closest coast line to the capital, and you said yourself that everybody is dumped within a vicinity of several hundred miles from the capital."

As the large, cumbersome crawler shifted its large rusted insectoid legs, the whining of joints made the two raise their voices to be heard over the noise and the other passengers.

"Even if they went for it that still leaves hundreds of miles to cover!" Krame shouted. "And that's assuming any of them found a settlement!"

"You said there were only two in range of the drop zones!"

"Yeah, but-aw hell!" Krame slapped himself in the face. "I forgot one!"

"So? It just means a few more hours of searching!" Grim looked at his companion. "And it means they're more likely to find shelter if they ended up near here!"

"No, it's bad!" Krame shook his head. "The third settlement is underground...under a mountain." He ran one hand over his covered head. "It is a nightmare to endure living in it...if you survive long enough that is."

"What's so bad about it? Crime?" Grim asked.

"I wish!" Krame said. "There are no criminals! There is no police! No citizens! Nobody dropped on this planet lives there now! It was built long before Shay abandoned his precious home world as a prison planet."

"Care to explain this to me in detail?" Grim asked.

"This planet is the source of Lord Shay's species," Krame explained. "You can find out that much in any functioning data archive. When he became the new Prophet of the Dark Power, Shay tried to convert his species to it. But they all stood firmly opposed against him. They entered a war that last thousands of year, devastating both the Zealots and Shay's people."

"Not even the Irken Empire could continuously wage war for millennia, without break or reconstruction." Grim noted. "We always need our moments of...ceasefire."

"Shay's people ruled countless planets," Krame continued. "Far more than even the Empire does now. They were proud fighters, and had attracted the Dark Power's attention for their own natural psycho-kinetic gifts. When it tried to indoctrinate them, they created a shielding that protected them after Shay willingly gave himself up. The whole race was safe, but now they were too dangerous to be left alone! In the end, Shay took this whole planet into the Node!"

"Node?" Grim tilted his head. "Is the Node the area of space this planet is in?"

"In a manner of speaking!" Krame nodded. "But that's not important right yet. What you wanted to know...was about the city. This city was built before Shay took over, and for a while it was his Holy Capital. Maneka, the city of nightmares, named after one of the great leaders of this planet." A small data chip appeared in his hand, seemingly from nowhere with how fast he produced it. "This says it all. Downloaded data from any old archive I could find in the ruins on this rock. And it tells me Maneka is highly dangerous these days...that and the fact that nobody ever returns from it. And I doubt people willingly spend their lives under a mountain these days."

"Does it say what is in Maneka?" Grimrair asked.

"...just one name came up when I inquired about Maneka during my search," Krame looked away from Grim. "The only thing that lives in Maneka goes by the name of _Void_."

Xxx

**Omni Hunter**

Lok groaned in pain as he opened one eye. He had little in the way of depth perception, making the ceiling of the room he woke in seem close yet far at the same time.

"Good morning sleepy head," A hand gently stroked one of his antennae, which twitched in response to the contact. Lok sucked in a breath, and then relaxed under the familiar touch of his mate.

"What happened?" Lok asked weakly. "I..I remember the colony...the Zealot ship..."

"You saved them Lok," Drosco said gently as he leaned into Lok's view, his eyes most visible in the dimly lit room. "You saved everybody here. We had to fight off a crowd of uh...'Lok Zealots' to get you on board and treat you."

"Was I hurt?" Lok asked as Drosco helped him to sit up.

"Nothing aside from what Dev gave you," Drosco assured him. "You were amazing Lok, that power...the Shard you showed me...that was like watching an act of a god."

"No," Lok shook his head quickly, desperately. "Not a god Drosco. Anything but that, this thing is an abomination and it has no place in this universe, much less a place in me!"

Drosco gently hushed him, rubbing Lok's back. "Relax...it's alright."

Lok took several deep breaths. "Alright...where are we?"

"Responding to a distress call," A new voice said, and a green eyed Irken stepped over to the bed and offered Lok a hand. "I've seen a lot before, but that was way too weird for me. Good job anyhow, you saved the whole colony."

"Thanks," Lok took the offered hand and got to his feet. "But I don't want to make a habit out of using the Shard."

"Darth ran an examination on your mind," Nick explained as the three Irkens left the medical bay. "Aside from the fact that that thing in you is about five or six times louder and two or three times bigger on the medical scanner you seem fine."

"He and Loe think that excessive use cause it to grow," Drosco added.

"So it's a damn good thing I ain't using it agan." Lok mumbled before they stepped onto the bridge.

"Welcome back," Darth said, sitting in one of the chairs as Kay pulled a sling shot around a star, laughing all the way. "Could you persuade your pilot to get us to our destination?"

"Where are we going? Irk?" Lok asked.

"The distress signal was forwarded to us from there because we are so close, but no." Darth shook his head. "We are going to link up with a small Irken fleet to rescue Prince Grimrair."

Xxx

**Unknown Location**

"Why did we withdraw our fleet from the planned assault on Outer Irk?" Admiral Sket demanded as he stormed into the dim meeting room.

"Calm down Admiral," Captain Vanderlu sighed. "I'd rather not have another officer wetting himself over this."

"This sets our plan back!" Sket snarled. "You saw what Lok dd! With that power we could crush this galaxy in half our usual time! We were to lure him to Outer Irk so he could be bonded to one of the shards hidden-"

A single punch silenced him, knocking him to the floor.

Invader Dev sat back down. "You were annoying before I died, you're still annoying."

"Things have changed, Admiral," A single image floated in the dimly lit room, surrounded by the 'leading members' of the Dark Zealots in this galaxy.

Admiral Sket, who commanded most of the Dark Fleets being deployed to conquer.

Invader Dev, their personal assassin and infantry leader.

Captain Vanderlu was more of a hired hand who Shay would tolerate...for now.

Admiral Tantax, who led what fleets the more loyal Sket did not command.

Wraith, who, like Dev was a killer and agent of Lord Shay. The Vortian had particularly taken to the Dark Shard, but not like Lok had. Wraith joined out of what he thought was righteous fury against Irk for its old crimes against his people instead of the hidden hatred that Lok bottled up inside himself for so long.

And Eder, another not so trusted but useful tool. He had tried retrieving the clone Tallest Red commissioned for creation, in an effort to give himself an edge by having a personal body guard/assassin who would only answer to him. Now he was just sitting silently, arms crossed, glaring. He would most likely have to openly obey more, perhaps even reveal that he really did serve the Dark Prophet. Anything short of that would have him punished for his disrespect...or cut off from the nearly endless resources he was given by the Dark Zealots. Shay did not trust his regular zealots or even his generals to kill a beast bred for survival like Eder.

"As you know, we have recently accomplished the capture of the Irken Prince, Grimrair," Shay stated. "This presents an opportunity for us all. Should we take the path I had originally set out...it would result in the failure of our invasion, but the destruction of the Irken Capital and over half of the Irken Empire's population. This new path however...it looks promising to say the least."

"What have you seen of it?" Dev asked.

"We shall confront the Irken Royal Family," Shay stated. "And we shall bring the Dark Shards to them, so they may join with us."

"You want to convert _them?_" Sket growled. "The deal was that they would die and I would rule!"

"They shall, and you will...after this galaxy is ours." Shay said patiently. "The vision given to me by the Dark Power ended at the precipice of our battle. It will be close...even the Dark Power in all of its might cannot show me the true outcome of it. It is an event that will be of significance in our campaign, for it may very well decide the outcome of our people."

"If we confront them here, the Node will be at risk," Eder said, glancing up. "Do you want the Empire getting control of an entire nebula and a half dozen planets that can jump between galaxies?"

"The Node shall not be placed in danger, its core is well protected-" Shay started before the doors burst open.

"MY LORD! MY LORD!" A Dark Zealot rushed in, falling to one knee in a bow of respect. "Something is occurring in the Holy City! Somebody is attempting to gain access!"

"Hm..." Shay did the equivalent of rubbing his chin with a finger and thumb on one hand. "Could it be...?"

"What shall we do about the intruders, my lord?" The officer asked.

"...kill him."

"Yes my lord-"

"I was not speaking to you," Lord Shay looked at his 'Generals'. "Kill him, he is the only one aside from you who knows of this. I can't afford to let this information reach our ranks."

The officer barely had time to stumble back before Vanderlu casually extended one hand, which held a blaster and fired, sending him into oblivion with a hole in place of one eye. She blew on the tip of the gun and holstered it. "Are we done yet?"

"You all shall return to the prison world within the Node," Shay ordered. "Enter the Holy City, dispatch the intruders, secure the core."

"I thought you said it was already secured," Dev tilted his antennae.

"Do not question me," Shay hissed. "I still hold your precious one in my hands."

He held out one arm...and the image of a tall Irken appeared. She wore a long, flowing blue robe that looked ripped and scratched as though she had been beaten. Her eyes were closed, and despite how battered she looked she was sleeping. Her curly antennae twitched a bit as she floated for all to see.

Dev's eyes widened. "My Tallest...Miyuki."

"And if you wish for her awakening to be permanent...you will obey without question." Shay smirked. "Or her few minutes of resurrection shall be spent in my chamber, alone with me...and a recording device so you may hear her screams."

Dev's hands clenched into fists. He bowed his head slowly. "I...I will obey, my Lord."

"Good..." Shay's sneering smirk softened to a gentle smile. "Now go, my loyal generals. Wraith...you shall remain in orbit...await our future Shadow."

This made those of the Generals who actually were loyal to the Dark Zealots tense. The Shadow was a position second to Lord Shay, and had been passed on to only several hundred over the countless hundreds of millennium in which the position existed.

"You mean...?" Wraith's eyes widened.

"Calm my child, I won't see you dead." Shay said gently. "But...our future Shadow will need some incentive to accept his Shard. Force him to use it...or take away what anchors him to his weak mortality."

"It shall be done, my lord." Wraith melted into the darkness around the table as the others left the room.

Eder was disturbed by the news...

Was Lok, the defective little bounty hunter supposed to be Lord Shay's new, his Shadow, second in command...?

Was Lok essentially going to become the Prince of Darkness?

Xxx

**With our forgotten heroes from Earth...**

**After 5 hours of flying (and listening to 'Yellow Submarine' by the Beatles on Skoodge's cassette player)...**

"AH!" Carlos was slamming his head into the side of a crate. "MAKE!" THUD! "IT!" THUD! "STOP!" THUD!

"I hate Yellow Submarine!" Dib whine, hands clasped to his ears.

"Are you _trying _to make us commit suicide before we reach our target?" Onryo growled.

"Okay okay! Sheesh you guys are so whiny!" Skoodge changed the tape on the small cassette player-which was probably twenty or thirty years old. "I found this on the internet. It was used in some Japanese Juice commercial!"

"Well the Japanese know how to market things, so maybe it isn't too bad," Agent Fairy sighed in relief.

_**Bo-bobo-bebe-bo-be-bo! Bo-bobo-bebe-bo-be-bo! Bo-boo-bebe-bo-be-bo!**_

"AGH!" Everybody screamed-minus skoodge who hummed to the music and Kurt who was merely clutching his head.

Suddenly the usually silent human snatched up the cassette player and tossed it into the air. He shouted. "Go to hell!" Suddenly a black hole opened from Kurt speaking once more and sucked the player and the cursed music in.

With the cargo hold sound free once more, they all breathed a sigh of relief.

"Uh...guys?" Dib looked at his laptop, which he had set on the floor earlier. "I think we're almost at the ship's destination. The computer is showing a diagnostic being run of the FTL core, and if I read the programming right that only happens before and after they go into and out of FTL."

"So then we can hit whatever base they launched from!" Carlos grinned.

"Awesome!" Onryo nodded.

"Don't you mean," Carlos started.

"_**Excellent!"**_ They finished at the same time, and laughed.

"Uh...we're dropping out but I don't know where." Dib said. "I can't hack their sensors or we'll be traced. But...it looks like they're preparing for a 'high orbital supply drop' to a...landing zone below. We must be over a planet."

"Okay, so when does the drop happen?" Skoodge asked.

"In...just about...now." The moment Dib finished the entire cargo hold jolted.

"AH!" Everybody in the room screamed.

"DIB! What's going on?" Sophie screamed as the room tilted back and forth.

"I think that they dropped the whole cargo compartment!" Dib shouted.

"How the hell does that keep anything intact to be picked up?" Onryo sounded incredulous.

"The hell if I know!" Dib was suddenly slammed into the side of one crate...and saw a device attached to it. "Wait...the crates have something on them! Can somebody take a look?"

"Little busy-ow getting used as-ow pool balls here-ow Comrade big Head!" Carlos shouted as he, Onryo, Sophe, Melissa, Fairy, Harpy, and Kurt were thrown around the room. Skoodge used hs PAK legs to move over to Dib and examine the crate.

"Hm...Inertial Field generators!" Skoodge said. "Anything inside there is under average room pressure and experiences no velocity or deceleration! The crates are strong enough to survive the fall and their contents won't be so much as dented!"

"So that's what they're doing! They can drop a lot of cargo as fast as possible and not damage it!" Dib said. "Amazing!"

"It would be if we weren't about to die!" Melissa shouted.

"We won't!" Dib declared. "Follow my lead! I have a plan! We'll cut off their supply drop and save ourselves at the same time."

Xxx

_**Down Below...**_

"Okay, the landing zone is secure," One soldier grunted. "Just get those supplies down and we can move on to way point one."

"_Copy that ground force, but Lord Shay wants you moving out within the hour. He's deploying his Generals down here to supervise the op._" A pilot of one of the shuttles overhead replied as the ships pulled away, leaving dozens of Dark Zealots near a large mountain. This was no man's land on Planet Shay, so none of the 'convicts' who inhabited the planet would ever find them. If they did anyways, they'd be shot dead immediately.

"I see it coming down now, we should be moving on to the mountain in ten minutes." The Platoon leader said as he watched a building sized cargo compartment crash land several miles away. "Troopers, move out! We need to collect our supplies and mobilize!"

"Why couldn't we just fly?" One soldier whined as they began their trek.

"Because the mountain has an EM generator grid that activates if we bring anything bigger than a few vehicles near it," The Platoon Leader growled. "It's to keep anybody from having ideas of taking off from there. Only off switch is in the city itself."

"Let's just get to the crash site and get what we need," A squad leader grumbled. "I'm already sweating half my body weight away!"

They took five minutes to sprint to the crash thanks to their powered armour...but when they found the shattered cargo compartment, they didn't find perfectly intact crates strewn about...

"WHAT IN THE DARKNESS' NAME HAPPENED HERE?" The Platoon Leader snarled as he surveyed the dozens of destroyed crates with now useless vehicle components that could have been assembled into working ground transports in minute, weapons of varying kinds, and food supplies now burnt and crushed. Only one crate remained intact.

"Uh...command this is Ground Force, our supplies are uh...only two percent of our supplies have survived." The communications officer whispered into his long range radio.

"No florpin' duh!" The Platoon Leader growled, marching up to the crate. "This better have a damn vehicle ready to be assembled in it!"

He accessed the computer built into the door as his men surveyed the crate.

"Huh...they sure put a lot of Generators on this one," A soldier tapped one of the fifty or so generators attached to the crate. "They could have saved a few dozen for the other crates though."

"Aw shut it soldier, let's just take what we have and-" The Platoon Leader opened the doors and found several guns aimed at him along with a pair of fingers with tiny flames floating at the tips.

"...well this is a fine bucket of fish we've landed in." Carlos said. "No offense," He said to one Dark Zealot who looked like a cross of a shark and a man.

"None taken," The soldier nodded.

"Thanks!" Carlos grinned...and then he and the rest of the group vaporized or blew apart the Dark Zealots who had left themselves exposed to the stowaways.

As the last Zealot fell, Carlos blew on his finger tips like they were smoking guns. "Good idea using all the generators on our crate Comrade big Head!"

"Well, now we just need to know...where...we...are..." Dib trailed off as he looked up at the sky, which had several visible planets and moons in it. "...we're definitely not anywhere near Earth."

"No duh," Fairy said, holstering her pistol. "Maybe these fine gentlemen left something for us to use though."

"I never liked scavenging from the dead," Db sighed.

"We're not dead!" A few Zealots groaned, raising their arms.

"Oh, okay then!" Dib kicked one soldier in the side and searched his armour and combat harness for anything useful.

"Dig in people!" Carlos declared. "...Melissa, I didn't mean dig in like _that_!" He sighed as Melissa nibbled on the hand of one soldier, who was crying under his helmet.

"Oops, sorry!" Melissa said sheepishly. "With us being stranded now I thought we were converting to cannibalism!"

Xxx

**Now for any who found the whole Dimensional Travel thing to be confusing, here's a simple explanation for my fictional method of Universe hopping in this story.**

**Picture a tunnel connecting two spheres. The spheres are universes; the tunnel is one of the black holes or any other method that the Irkens use to travel between them. Imagine that at each end of the tunnel, two people start their stop watches at the same time. A ship flies through, and when the stop watches reach two seconds, it comes out the other side. The occupants of the ship also feel like it was two seconds and only age by two seconds, but in reality they were in it for two hundred years. During that time they get bombarded by minor amounts of protons from the new universe. This minor exposure to the new universe makes their bodies essentially slowly adapt to this foreign universe where they are not supposed to exist. They are perfectly preserved for the entire trip and ready to survive in the second universe without any lost time as far as anybody is concerned.**

**The Displacement Drive skips that process and immediately places the user in universe B without allowing them to adapt to existing where they shouldn't. They begin to react as if the very universe itself is rejecting them like a virus. Eventually it would lead to death for any organics and a long time span of technology malfunctioning if they stayed longer than necessary.**

**In short, if you use a Displacement Drive like I've made up, the other universe will make you get sick just for existing there, and unless you leave as soon as possible you'll die.**

**It's all a fictional method though, I suck at most forms of nonfictional science-barely passing Chemistry I'll admit. **

**Read and Review!**


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